ACE's are ace! Seen some nice ones over the years
they do have some nice bright ones on occasion, but sporadics often easily rival it and its associated complex.
http://comets.amsmeteors.org/meteors...entaurids.html
Poor old major meteor shower starved far and mid southern hemisphere dwellers
I would think you could count on one hand (if that?) the serious perrenial, dedicated, scientific quality data collecting, meteor shower visual observers that live in this huge watery hemisphere (outside of major events) truly a 'fringe' activity.
Northern Hemisphere devotees seem frequently shocked, disgusted and dumbfounded as to this situation.
As in all the neglected far southern showers, they are very poorly studied, by n.hemi. standards, and most dont even have yet identified or candidate parent bodies
http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/meteor_streams.html (note:Quadrantids now have one too) there out there somewhere still? (maybe defunct comets now silent but deadly asteroids) with orbits that have crossed near earths in the past!
Also worth noting, as you may know meteor showers can sometimes have more than one (timezone favouring) peak and troughs, as we can encounter multiple different and perhaps planet and body perturbed sections of old trails/revolutions of a parent body at different times, and different proximities to the central zones of old and new trails - you never know?, especially if we dont even have a rich recorded anecdotal history of the parent bodies outburst's and/or long accurate records of a shower's activity.
oh well at least the relatively only true sometimes decent 'southern' shower the Eta Aquarids's have a very favourable moon phase this year - first since 2003 (excluding during the TLE in '04)
not that they have performed too well in recent years.
Good luck anyway Matty - I hope to observe some soon while comet observing as well.
I think it cannot be repeated or emphasised enough for possible newcomers that the 'ZHR' can sometimes seem a somewhat mythical and confusing term - it literally means thats the theoritical rate you would expect if the radiant of the particular shower
actually was located in the small area of sky straight up that is the called Zenith, for your latitude - NOT when its at its true highest attainable elevation of night/morning or crossing the meridian, for you locally.
And all this under perfectly clear and very dark, moon free, post midnight skies as well
http://www.namnmeteors.org/guidechap8.html
I know its only meant as globally applicable standard/guide and it makes sense to do it that way, but it should be called the 'optomistic dream rate' maybe? hehe
but I have seen them surparssed sometimes on occasion of course :-))