APOD: 2021 September 24 - Perseid Outburst at Westmeath Lookout

Good Red Friday morning, Rallypoint. Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) is titled "Perseid Outburst at Westmeath Lookout." Many of you have shared that it was overcast where you live during the peak of the 2021 Perseid Meteor Shower (Aug 12-13). It was for me as well. However, it wasn't like that everywhere. Especially at Westmeath Lookout (Ontario) a night later (August 14th). This composite image (total exposure time 130 minutes) captures an astonishing 282 separate meteor trails. You can clearly see the shower radiant along the Milky Way at center right.

I couldn't find a firm definition for a meteor 'outburst', but the charts I saw indicate that ~40 meteors per hour is a normal level for annual Perseid observations. There were over 200 per hour on August 14th. An average of a little over 3 per minute. According to the APOD photographer in Canada, "multiple Perseids per minute with many bursts, sometimes 3-4 in a second.” Must have been a good show.