Report your observations to be included in the Live Orionids Page.

The Orionids produce fast moving meteors linked to the comet 1 P/Halley. It is a middle-sized shower visible between early October and the first week of November. They usually peak around solar length 208° or October 21st with rates up to ZHR ~25. Last year however, the maximum went up to more than twice this value, with lots of bright meteors. The enhanced activity was explained by the Earth intersecting with some very old dust trails. Simulations show that this year the Earth stays much further away from the trails, but we still have a good chance for some enhanced activity.

Depending on your local conditions, expect realistic rates of about one meteor per two minutes, with good chances of bright meteors. Watch after local midnight, the later the better. Best look about 20-40° away from the radiant in Orion, or, if you have trouble finding that, South will not be far off.

And of course, don't forget to report your observations!

From now on you can order all IMO publications through the webshop. With the webshop, it's a lot easier now to order IMO publications. A green and orange color code indicates whether there is still ample stock of a publication, or whether you have to hurry to get one of the last copies. After confirming your order, you will be directed to a page asking for your shipping information and choose your method of payment. You will get an email confirming your order and another one once the publication(s) are mailed to you.

We'd like to take the opportunity to point out that the Proceedings of the Radio Meteor School 2005 have been reprinted and are available again.

If you experience any difficulty using the new functionality, let us know!

Report your observations to be included in the "live Aurigids page".

The Aurigid meteor shower usually produces annual activity at a maximum rate of 7-9 meteors per hour, over a period from late August until early September. However, on rare occasions in the past, this shower had a very short but intense peak, with rates jumping up to as many as 400 meteors per hour. A new outburst has been predicted for this year on September 1 at about 11:36 +/- 20 minutes UT, favouring locations at the west coast of the United States, Alaska and Hawaii. Apart from the far East, daylight in the whole of Asia and Europe will spoil the outburst there (but it is still encouraged to go out observing).

The NASA/Ames Research Center has more Aurigids information available.

The Meteor Shower Calendar 2008 is now available on the web. The meteor year ahead starts well for the stronger showers, with moonless maxima for the Quadrantids, α-Centaurids, η-Aquarids and δ-Aquarids, but things go somewhat awry in August with the Perseids peaking near full Moon, while the Orionids in October, the Leonids in November and the Geminids in December are even worse-placed. However, the Draconid epoch should still be partly observable, while the late October to early November spell, which may bring another 'swarm' enhancement from the Taurids, is Moon- free, as too is the Ursid peak towards year's end. There are minor showers to be monitored as well, and ideally, meteor observing should be carried out throughout the year to check on all the established sources, and for any new ones. We appreciate this is impractical for most people, so the Shower Calendar has been helping to highlight times when a particular effort might most usefully be employed since 1991.

Please submit your observations using the electronic form, which will get processed directly into a live ZHR profile.

One of the most famous and popular meteor showers of the year is coming. Unlike last year, with very unfavorable conditions due to full moon close to the maximum, this year has near-perfect conditions for observing the Perseids.

The peak of the activity is expected in the night from 12 to 13 of August (Sunday to Monday), with ZHRs (hourly rates in theoretical perfect conditions) around 100. Depending on your local conditions, this should cater for realistic rates of one meteor per one or two minutes. The nights just before and after the maximum are still worthwhile for observations with rather high rates.

Perseids are fast moving meteors and they appear to originate from a point between Perseus and Cassiopeia. The Perseids are of course a nice opportunity to just go out to a dark spot and see some "shooting stars", but if you would like to do some structured visual observations, we welcome your observations, which will get processed directly into a live ZHR profile.

From June 7th till 10th 2007 the International Meteor Organization held its annual International Meteor Conference (IMC) in Barège, France. 84 participants from all over the world joined us for this four-day event. Both professional and amateur astronomers presented their latest results in meteor science. The IMC is also a time where meteor enthusiasts tighten and renew their friendship.

Before conference, a dozen participants attended the Radio Meteor School where we had lectures on the physical and mathematical theory of radio meteor observations. There was also a half-day orbit determination workshop organized by Jonathan McAuliffe (ESA/ESTEC) right before the start of the IMC).

If you've got your pictures on-line somewhere, please send us the location and we'll add a link to your gallery.

The IMC 2007 was organized by IMCCE, Institut de Mécanique Céleste et de Calcul des Ephémérides, Paris Observatory, Observatoire Midi-Pyrennees and AUDE (Association des Utilisateurs de Détetecteurs Electronique). Your comments are very welcome! Lecturers are requested to submit their contribution to the Proceedings before the 15th of may.

See you next year!