Global Analysis of the 1998 Perseid Meteor Shower

Despite the Full Moon near the 1998 maximum of the Perseids, 19171 Perseids were recorded by 240 observers. The strong Perseid peak, which has been observed since 1988, was most probably located at lambda=139.75+-0.03 (August 12, 15h40m UT) with a maximum ZHR of 110+-20.Systematic errors in the peak ZHR cannot be ruled out due to the strong interference of the Full Moon. The traditional Perseid maximum was observed at lambda=140.0+-0.02 (August 13, 0h25m UT) with ZHR=74+-3. The particle fluxes corresponding with both peaks were 0.032+-0.005 km^-2 h^-1 and 0.020+-0.003 km^-2 h^-1, respectively. These numbers convert to 150+-23 and 93+-13 particles per 10^9 km^3. An additional enhancement of activity at lambda=140.35 (August 13, 6h40m UT) as observed in 1997 was also found in the 1998 data with the same position and activity level.