Near-Maximum Visual Perseid Observations Between 1988 and 1996

Visual meteor observations are used for an analysis of the ZHR profiles of Perseid stream from 1988-1996. For each year we present the position and peak ZHR of the outburst maximum and the location and magnitude of the regular maximum. The Perseid stream is found to consist of three primary components: a long-lived background component, a core component which is active for 1-2 days near the main peak of the shower and an outburst component which is active for only few hours. The outburst peaks occurred before the node of the Perseid parent comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle was reached, at 139.44 deg. The peak position approached the nodal longitude from 1988 (139.78 deg) to 1992 (139.48 deg) and moved back towards 139.66 deg in 1996. The particle composition of the outburst maximum and core maximum are indistinguishable in terms of population index r. High temporal resolution series' of the ZHR profiles of the ascending branches of the outbursts in 1993 and 1994 suggest that this component may actually consist of several sub-components, possibly of differing ages.