The Perseids are one of the most exciting meteor showers; producing fast-moving shooting stars throughout July and August. Based on IMO observations from recent years, we expect a peak of roughly 100 meteors per hour to occur in the night of August 12-13. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these meteors will not be visible due to the bright light of the full moon which also occurs on August 13.

Nevertheless, we encourage visual observations to be made according to the standard procedure and submitted through the online report form. Such observations will automatically be included in the ZHR activity graph below.

Activity graph below is updated every 15 minutes - click for details.

The June issue of the IMO Journal is now in print. It will be posted shortly and subscribers can also immediately access the journal in PDF format. The contents this month:

• Editorial - Draconids, a future strong shower (J. Kac)
• Ingo Reimann (1939-2011)
• Letter - Reply: Meteors in Australian Aboriginal Dreamings (D. W. Hamacher)
• The coming 2011 Draconids meteor shower (J. Vaubaillon, J. Watanabe, M. Sato, S. Horii, P. Koten)
• Future Draconid outbursts (2011 - 2100) (M. Maslov)
• Results of the IMO Video Meteor Network - February 2011 (S. Molau, J. Kac, E. Berko, S. Crivello, E. Stomeo, A. Igaz)
• Results of the IMO Video Meteor Network - March 2011 (S. Molau, J. Kac, E. Berko, S. Crivello, E. Stomeo, A. Igaz)
• History of Meteor Observing Project: An overview of British meteor observing, Part II, 1861 to 2010 (A. McBeath)

Instructions for writing an article for WGN may be found in "Authors, Writing for WGN" [PDF].

This year's International Meteor Conference (IMC) -- the 30th edition already! -- will take place in the historical city of Sibiu in Romania, from September 15 to 18, 2011. The IMC is an exciting event where meteor workers from all over the world meet and exchange their experiences. The standard early registration fee, including full board, has remained unchanged from last year at 155 EUR. More details on this IMC can be found at http://www.imo.net/imc2011 .

The period in which the early registration fee is applicable expires at the end of the month (June 30). From July 1 onwards, the registration fee will be 170 EUR.

The April issue of the IMO Journal is now in print. It will be posted shortly and subscribers can also immediately access the journal in PDF format. The contents this month:

• Editorial - Meteor fluxes (J. Kac)
• Video observation of Geminids 2010 and Quadrantids 2011 by SVMN and CEMeNt (J. Tóth et al.)
• Meteor spectral observation with DSLR, normal lens and prism (Sihao Cheng & Simiao Cheng)
• Results of the IMO Video Meteor Network - December 2010 (S. Molau et al.)
• Results of the IMO Video Meteor Network - January 2011 (S. Molau et al.)
• Editorial note (J. Kac)

Instructions for writing an article for WGN may be found in "Authors, Writing for WGN" [PDF].

The eta-Aquariids are expected to peak on the evening of 2011 May 6 (ZHR ~60). The radiant of this shower in Aquarius rises rather late in the night. Northern obserevrs should use the last morning hour, mid-southern hemisphere observers have a longer observing window. Visual observations can be reported through the Report Form and are highly appreciated. The observations are automatically included in an automated ZHR graph. Note that meteor numbers far from the maximum may be very low and lead to highly uncertain ZHRs.

The Lyrids are expected to peak on the evening of 2011 April 22 (ZHR ~20). The radiant of this shower, between Lyra and Hercules, rises during the night. Watches can be usefully carried out from about 22h30m local time onwards from mid-northern sites, but only from well after midnight from the mid-southern hemisphere. Visual observations can be reported through the Report Form and are highly appreciated. The observations are automatically included in an automated ZHR graph.