The Lyrids (LYR) are the first major annual shower of the season. Their maximum occured near 22-23 April 2007, as reported by visual observers through the IMO electronic report form. Once again, an "on the fly" ZHR graph has been made available with early results.

If you haven't submitted your reports yet, this might be the right time!

The Geminids (GEM) peak on the night of December 13/14. Rates will rise steadily this week as we approach the maximum and the moon wanes. The current radiant is located in northern Gemini, five degrees west of the second magnitude star Castor (Alpha Geminorum). These meteors are best seen near 0200 local standard time when the radiant lies highest above the horizon. This shower is best suited for the Northern Hemisphere but some activity can be seen south of the equator when the radiant culminates low in the northern sky. At 35 km/sec. the Geminids produce meteors of average velocity.

The highest peak is expected in the morning of Thursday the 14th. Expect rates up to 120 meteors per hour in real dark areas, down to a maybe a dozen in more urban regions.

An "on the fly" ZHR graph is available, containing the data reported through the IMO electronic report form (+- 2 minutes delay). Note that by using the electronic form, you allow for more effective data processing and quality control.

We hope this feature motivates your observing efforts! Suggestions and changes are very welcome (source code is open). Note that these are automated results without population index or perception corrections applied, so keep an eye on WGN for scientific results.

We encourage all observers to use the electronic visual observation form. This will increase the efficiency of data processing significantly. The information gathered through this form is used to compute a live ZHR graph.

First-time observers are adviced to read through the visual observing sections of this website before observing.

Bob Lunsford explains in this week's Meteor Activity Outlook:

The Leonids (LEO) will be best seen from November 17 through the 19th. The Earth passes closest to the node of comet Temple-Tuttle late on the 17th (Universal Time). The best chance for enhanced activity will most likely be near 0445 UT on the 19th. This timing favors Western Europe and northwestern Africa. From the western hemisphere, northeastern South America and eastern North America may see enhanced activity as the radiant rises in the east on Saturday evening/Sunday morning November 18/19. No one knows exactly the strength of this peak.

Optimistic forecasters are predicting rates of 2-3 Leonids per minute for a short time centered on the peak. Unfortunately these Leonids will most likely be faint so those viewing from urban sites will not be able to see much at all. Other locations than those mentioned above should watch for activity late in the morning while the radiant is high on the dates mentioned above. The radiant is located at 10:12 (153) +22. This position lies in northwestern Leo, just one degree southwest of the third magnitude star Aldhafera (Zeta Leonis). The radiant rises near 2300 (11:00pm) LST and is best placed in a dark sky just before the onset of morning twilight. At 71km/sec., the average Leonid is swift.

The Orionids surprised with heightened activity in 2006. A considerable set of 146 observing priods was collected by 2006 October 25, 14h UT which leads to the below ZHR profile. The maximum was not sharp; high rates were observed throughout the European and most of the American night of Oct 21/22 with ZHR > 50. Large fractions of bright Orionids were reported by the observers. A population index of r=2.0 was assumed for that reason. Such a value is typical for strong showers like the Perseids or the Geminids. Sporadic meteors, for comparson, have a population index of roughly 3 implying a larger fraction of faint meteors. The Orionids used to have intermediate population indices in previous years.

Between 14 and 17 September, the International Meteor Organization held its annual conference in the Dutch village of Roden. This 25th edition of the International Meteor Conference was hosted by the Meteor Section of the Royal Dutch Association for Meteorology and Astronomy, which celebrates its 60th anniversary this year.

Almost 70 meteor-lovers from all over the world gathered to listen to lectures about meteor science and observation techniques. In the evening new friendships were formed and old ones renewed. On Saturday the group visited the world-famous Westerbork radio telescope and the newest radio telescope on Earth, LOFAR. In the evening the birthday of the IMC and the meteor section was celebrated with a barbeque and live music.

As chairman of the Dutch Meteor section I must say that it was a big job to organize the IMC. But looking back at it, it was more than worthwhile. If you have any comments, please send them to us.

Next year the IMC will take place in France, close to Pic du Midi in the Pyrenees. The exact date and further details will be communicated in our journal WGN and the mailing list as they become available.

Thank you all for coming to the IMC! I hope to see you all next year.

Some pictures

If you have an album somewhere on the web, let us know! You can also upload your pictures to Flickr.com and tag them with "imc2006roden".

• Jeremy Vaubaillon
• Rainer Arlt
• Casper ter Kuile (with photo-archive of all earlier IMC's)
• Jean-Marc Wislez
• Urska Pajer
• Some pictures by Peter Jenniskens
• Annotated group picture (move over the picture to see the names)
• Flickr pictures tagged "imc2006roden"

The IMO Meteor Shower Calendar 2007 is now available on the web. The year looks set to be one of two unequal parts, with chiefly poorly-placed shower peaks through to the end of July, then a lot of virtually moonless shower maxima till mid December. The major Perseids and Geminids come off especially well, along with the possible Draconid epoch and Orionid maximum in October, the Taurids and Leonids in November, and most of the cluster of minor showers in early December.

It contains the revised Working List of Visual Meteor Showers as published in WGN 34:3 last June. Please use this revised list for your reports starting from January 2007. For the remainder of this year, we'll continue using the Working List from the 2006 Shower Calendar.

Update: Russian translation now available! Thanks Mikhail. We're still looking for people to translate the calendar to other languages. If you're interested, please let us know.