METEOR CONTEMPORARY POETRY PROJECT (8)

In this issue:
I. METEOR TIME
II. "PERSEIDS 2006" CAMP
III. ASTROPOETRY AT IMC 2006
IV. OTHER METEOR POEMS
V. END OF THE YEAR

Previous issues:
-Leonid 2002 Poetry - prologue, December 2002
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/imo-news/message/1088
-MCPP (1), June 2003
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/imo-news/message/1177
-MCPP (2), December 2003
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/imo-news/message/1321
-MCPP (3), June 2004
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/imo-news/message/1392
-The Song of the IMC - a September 2004 supplement
by Jeremie Vaubaillon
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/imo-news/message/1455
-MCPP (4), December 2004
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/imo-news/message/1507
-MCPP (5), June 2005
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/imo-news/message/1573
-MCPP (6), December 2005
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/imo-news/message/1649
-MCPP (7), June 2006
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/imo-news/message/1701

The next issue, for which we wait for submissions,
will appear at the summer solstice 2007.
- Coordinators: Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
(adgsarm@...), Alastair McBeath
(meteor@...), Valentin Grigore
(vali_sarm@...) -

"I wish you clear skies full of bright stars and
unique meteors - windows to salvation and knowledge."
-Ruxandra Toma (Romania)-

I. METEOR TIME - ROMANIAN LINES

HAIKU
-by Dominic Diamant-

children invading
the starry pumpkin
meteors, fireballs

TO THE EDGES
-by Adrian Sima-

wing knotted by another wing
knotted by another wing
to the edges

climbing over feathers
climbing ways of space

arriving near the well
with a bird's dimensions

gulping meteors in a hurry

time's thirst cannot be stopped

SCENERY BROKEN IN THE
FLOATING BED CLOTHES OF THE NIGHT
-by Miruna Muresanu-

arms like burning pyres
looking for the attire of my fear
burying me in accords of sky clay
in a humble ceremony
and learning the rhythm of death
in the game of the flummoxed seconds

HAIKU
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-

reversible time
ex-old meteoroid
new young meteor

2005 JANUARY 5/6
-by Alexandru Tudorica-

I tried a Messier marathon night, observing 109 deep
sky objects.
Through the same Dobsonian telescope, I also saw a few
small meteors: one of +10 magnitude, and a group of
three others.
I've remarked that, fortunately, skill doesn't
diminish with time's passing.
(It is like going by bicycle, perhaps even through
space.)

TOMORROW
-by Ion Moraru-

"Mother, is that
a meteor?" "Never!
There are only airplanes!"

II. "PERSEIDS 2006" CAMP OF THE ROMANIAN SOCIETY FOR
METEORS AND ASTRONOMY-SARM, XIV-TH EDITION,
CRASNA-COVASNA
-ASTROPOETRY GALA SELECTION-

"We find ourselves again under the Perseid shine,
learning every time to look inside us, to that place
yearning for more: the sky light, which means, beyond
the astronomical theories, even life!"
-Valentin Grigore-

FROM THE BIG BANG TO THE PERSEIDS
-haiku series by Dominic Diamant-

You don't imagine
how many wonders we miss
by ignoring ourselves

Who shattered
the primordial ball?
Now we suffer

We like or not
our place in the Cosmos
these ones we are

How could I forget
good Stephen Hawking?
It's unpardonable

Create to defeat
the misery.
This is the technique

To voyage
in the Celestial Garden
if you have breath

Where does
the pulsar's magic hide?
Could you answer?

Who penetrates
the quasar's mystery
just from its waves?

Do not be sad
when a comet disappears.
Another one follows

How is it possible to shoot
a heavenly body?
This idea hurts me

My wish
was not incidental
falling star

A rain of stars
enlightening the sky.
Perseus is playing.

ASTRAL SALUTE
-by Florian Severin-

Hi Mizar! I start amazed
Bowing to you, zenith,
And flying in a hurry to the Perseids -
Ancestral placenta!

I start to bless my soul
In the temple of the celestial gods
I start to meet my brothers
Under the solar beams

Hi Alcor! Hi Mizar!
The sense of life is not fruitless
I am a lucky man, caressed
By stars

HAIKU
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-

new Perseid hopes -
our lives look for a
better ZHR

-(performed also at the International Meteor
Conference 2006)-

"PERSEIDS" CAMP
-by Andreea Nanciu-

1. Rainbow

Among the green tree branches,
a yellow beam lightens my face.
It is so fine!
I hear people laughing,
I feel joy in the air.

My gaze climbing,
I see the green of the grass
fusing into the fluffy white of the clouds
that call you to admire them,
floating in the pure blue of the sky.

To the valley, I see the red roofs
of the silent chalets,
and the scent of the mauve flowers
delights our feelings.

This is the rainbow of the "Perseids" camp!

2. Perseid

I began to climb from the strange darkness
and, passing over the clouds,
I drove away my fear.
An invisible hand guided me to him.

I needed to know him in all his splendour,
I hoped to remain awake to touch him,
to learn from him to fly
as mysterious as him,
dressing his hypnotic colour,
to travel near stars,
to fulfill my wish of celestial knowledge
from him - the enigmatic meteor.

AT "PERSEIDS"
-by Diana Maria Ogescu-

The light of the Perseids
from the sources of the sky

Us, the astronomers -
comprehension in the silence
before dawn

WAITING FOR THE PERSEIDS
-by Catalina Mitrut-

1
I want to see her again
after I lost light years nowhere.
She fills my nights with dreaminess
to eternity.
However, I ask myself:
Why did she not leave me?
I coveted her brightness
and she did not disappoint me.
I dreamed of her and when I saw her
she smiled to me.
She is unique-
Cassiopeia.

2
Hidden after a star corner,
I sent the moon to sleep,
I covered the clouds
with the clarity of the sky,
I folded the fog
by sprinkling galaxies,
only for you, waiting for you.
A sea of people waits for your rain,
for the brightness of your darkness.
Give me the key to open
the mystery of your name,
and today I shall call you
Fireball.

PERSEID HAIKU
-by Zigmund Tauberg-

it's raining stones
incandescent hail
of meteors

PERSEID FALLS
-by Cristina Slovineanu-

The regretted sunset of a long split
strikes a spark in the night.
We run, finding a paradise
which comes and brings
strange stars in the memory.

Then, lost in time, we receive
twinkles of the galaxy.

AFTER METEORS
-by Iulia Ogescu (age 12)-

With heads in clouds
After meteors
We see Perseids
Wanting to come down
From the great canopy
To the small Earth
To know people
To meet children
To bring into the world
Their good news

HAIKU
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-

Perseus' sword
celestial sparks
Andromeda's joy

-(performed also at the International Meteor
Conference 2006)-

"PERSEIDS" NIGHT
-by Carmen Alexandra Dira (age 15)-

Sunset. The darkness advances over nature.
I watch the stars appearing
and enriching the sky with their lights.

Silence advances too,
soon we shall hear only
songs of night birds
and murmurs of mountain rivulets.

Meteors begin to fall one after the other,
Leaving impressive trails.
But they pass too fast,
like hurried travellers,
like us passing through life.

Nothing is eternal, so I think:
we should live every moment
like the last one,
being careful of
the wonderful things close to us,
and admiring nature, stars, clouds
and phenomena
on Earth, in Water, in the Sky.

DEAR ASTRONOMER
-by Loredana Diana Niculae-

It is pink, obedient, nice,
my falling star
inspiring the fluffy summer.

Or, it is black, furious, useless,
drowning step by step the white.

But, maybe it is green, dreamy, magic,
spelling the waves with caresses.

Or, it is red and bloody,
and blood is wine,
and if you drink that wine,
you come back in time
to that flame
when we began to play
the Great Game.

A METEOR FALLEN IN LOVE
-by Doina Chilargi-

There was a crazy, incandescent meteor
who roved among celestial abysses,
carried by love.
But he didn't find his target,
and, too hot with enthusiasm,
disintegrated himself on his road.

Moral:
Do not fly after love
If you are not a dove.

AT "PERSEIDS"
-by Alexandra Iliescu (age 14)-

The soil is cold.
The dew freezes on blades of grass.
Although it's dark, I see a cricket.
A star appears
And the chill passes,
The time passes.
Now golden drops are covering the sky
Someone somehow shook a paintbrush
And coloured the high ink spot

A meteor appears
Like a man's life
Short, hurried,
But luminous and beautiful.

HAIKU
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-

Perseid meteor
traversing Pegasus -
bestial magnitude

-(performed also at the International Meteor
Conference 2006)-

III. METEOR POETRY AT THE INTERNATIONAL METEOR
CONFERENCE 2006, RODEN (HOLLAND)

"What would the IMC be
without astropoetry?"
-Marc Gyssens (Belgium); words said in the end of the
2005 Astroshow of poetry-

"Here we are again my friends,
It's such a pity this must end
I've been waiting all the year
But now I'm too hung over to care..."
-Jonathan McAullife (Ireland), from The Song of the
IMC 2006-

EARTH
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe (Romania)-

the Earth is not only
the generous planet where I live,
the Earth was a great fireball
and now is my favourite
meteorite.

HAIKU
-by Paul Roggemans (Belgium)-

Out of nothingness,
a beautiful shooting star
brings us happiness.

HAIKU
-by Jeremie Vaubaillon (France)-

Perseids,
You hide in the mountains
Like the stars in the city lights

IN DEBT
-by Valentin Grigore (Romania)-

Observing meteor showers,
We understand we received
Life, Earth and Sky,
So we are in debt to give light around us.
Because we live with our feet on Earth,
But we are included in the Sky.
And the Sky begins from the Earth.

METEOR HAIKU
-by Nagatoshi Nogami (Japan)-

Every one shoot
forms a trail
just only one chance

Just for a moment
one shoot attracted me
for a few decades

Meteor tour in the future
from the space ship
look down the shower

A  MOMENT  IN  THE  FUTURE -
TO  BE  AVOIDED
-A word-play written and performed by Dr. Geoffrey
Grayer (U.K.) at IMC-2006, Roden, The Netherlands-

After many aeons, from afar,
Fell to Earth a shooting star.
The sky was clear, the Moon shone bright,
All below was bathed in light;
(T'was not a good observing night.)

As she fell to her destruction
She screamed aloud to all this question:
(For surely it is a bad sensation
To end existence by ablation!)

"Oh where the Heck has Holland gone?
For many there had such fun.
The tulip fields, and Edam cheese,
And Rice-Tafel; they all did please.
Van Eyke, Van Dyke, Van Gogh
In fact, the whole Van lot
The finest paintings in creation
Lost in one final inundation;
Now all that's left that man can see
They call it now the Zuider Zee!

And London, too, it's under water -
They loved so much its Soho quarteeeer ......!"

The Moon replied (too late I fear
For this poor meteor to hear):
"It's part my fault, I make the tides
With the Sun, whose heat provides
The other ingredient in this mix -
But most of all, its all those Dicks
Who burn the forests, cut the trees,
And all those greenhouse gases release.

The boy, whose finger in a dyke
Once saved this realm from watery plight
Is now a man, but his fingers still
Were not large enough the holes to fill.
And clogs, wood shoes shaped like a boat
Nevertheless, they do not float.
It was all due to global warming -
Those folk on Earth didn't heed the warning!"

A SPECK OF DUST
-Peter Jenniskens (Holland / U.S.A), guest of honour
in the Astroshow-

A speck of dust,
as in the dawn of time,
bringing the building blocks of life,
a meteor's light falls on us,
so that man can stand tall
and, spread out on four legs,
sense we live among galaxies.

IV. OTHER METEOR POEMS

HOW ARE THE METEORS IN M31 (ANDROMEDA)?
-by Zigmund Tauberg (Romania)-

Sidereal spot,
Giant stellar system,
Sister-galaxy of the Milky Way.
Gigantic spiral,
Immense carousel
Always rotating around its dense nucleus.
But, looking at it,
We see images from the past,
When, on Earth,
Humanity was in the beginning,
Or people did not exist yet.

And now we have a question. Thus:

Are thoughtful beings there? And, if so,
Are they interested in studying the Universe?
Do they watch the Milky Way
And think the same things as us?

TWO HAIKU
-by Steve Sneyd (U.K.)-

ON THE WAY TO THE FINAL CAVERN

Neave's eyes reflect two
falling stars. Merlin cries old
tears for both endings.

WITH MERLIN GONE, NOT HIS KNOWING

Meteorite pendant
Neave's fine neck wears will fly her
up sky now she dreams

FROM FAR AWAY
-by Dan Mitrut (Romania)-

who am I
to move with my breath
the curtain of this silver night

when no man creates infinity
when each falling star has a soul

I am the tailor of a living twilight

another day...
the planet circles with wishes
from the Dolphin to the Fishes

ADVISE
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe (Romania)-

Be careful at
your own earthly deeds,
the meteors could be
artificial satellites
made by the sky.

SPRING METEORS
-by Dominic Diamant (Romania)-

sidereal concert
under orpheus' wand
lyrids

sidereal archer
hunting particles
sagittarids

I SHALL BE A FALLING STAR
-by Florian Saioc (Romania)-

I shall be gone with my world
but the road has a price
so I shall pay it with a star

this road is a mystery
but on it I cannot die
as long as I have an account
opened in the sky

METEOR IMAGES FROM MY POEMS
COMPOSED IN COMMUNIST POLITICAL PRISONS (6)
1955, DEJ. (ETA AQUARIDS)
-by Constantin Dumitrescu-Cunctator (Romania)-

After the rain, a patch of sky drying,
A grain of hope loading the destiny,
A harp calmly singing in poplar tree rustle.
Tears of stars dropping one after the other,
Bis after bis -
A May night with a hot kiss.

ON A LONELY BEACH
-by Nimal Dunuhinga (Sri Lanka)-

My daydream is to walk one day
hand-in-hand with a meteor lover girl
on a lonely beach.

But I am scared
if she asks me to remove the shoes
for convenience.

CLEAR NIGHT
-by Diana Diaconu (Romania)-

Many people run out of the darkness. Some people look
for it.
Many people are scared of the night silence. Some
people need it.
For many people, every night is something usual. For
some people, every night is a new world invading space
and time.
For many people, the sky is all night long the same.
For some people, every night the sky tells a story
with stars, planets and meteors, and from normal
people they become prisoners of the gods, heroes and
creatures of the legends; but when they try to
understand the enigmas, the Sun begins to rise, and
all becomes the memory of a clear night.

METEOR HAIKU
-by Iulian Olaru (Romania)-

eyes of child
seeing thoughts of the leaves
coming from the stars

THE GIANT OF THE SCORPION
-by Zigmund Tauberg (Romania)-

There is a constellation with minor meteors,
but dominated by a bright star, a giant body,
much bigger than other stars.
What kind of thing could resist
that colossal attraction?
How many bodies
were gulped by it?
Comparing it with the Sun
(that sustains our lives),
our star is a few hundred times smaller.
And with Antares replacing the Sun,
we would have a ceiling at midday,
the atmosphere would not be blue,
the terrible warmth would destroy all,
and, more, even the Earth
would be assimilated.

But let Antares be there,
because I would never leave
our sky with meteors so fine,
and I would not give
our beloved Sun for any other star,
however bright or however great,
however close or however far.

BRAVERY
-by Arnold Leinweber (Romania)-

My thought was a comet
Flying in the Cosmos,
Passing through the zodiac,
Finding a lot of things,
Leaving shines after me
And noting many heavenly bodies.

But, finally,
Just a tired rover:
I left my orbit, and bought
A place on Terra
As a meteoritic thought.

DURING THE CYGNID TIME
-by Alexandrina Zuza (Romania)-

Let me be Deneb,
an immortal star
comprising thousands of rays
in its shine.

Let me be a part
of that fine celestial swan,
to fulfill my wish,
to own both the Earth
and the Being.

FLORIDIAN PERSEIDS
-by Emily Gaskin (U.S.A.)-

The Perseids are usually a poor show in Tallahassee on
account of the rainy weather, though I still try every
year. (Alas, travel is difficult for me.) I was
probably twelve years old, watching the shower alone
in my backyard, when I saw the most Perseids, and even
then it was only 13 for the entire night. I easily
counted more mosquito bites than meteors. One year my
father took pity on me, and we went on a short trip to
find a better location, but even then, improbably, we
were plagued by fog.
My father suggested that maybe I was cursed and should
consider something other than the visible spectrum. He
then helped me build a small radio telescope, which I
briefly enjoyed until it was destroyed by an
automobile.
So you see, I believe the universe likes to play
little jokes on me. Fortunately for me, astropoetry is
ruined neither by thunderstorm nor collisions.

EDGELY VISION
-by Boris Marian (Romania)-

You guess, from the flight of the stars,
the largeness of space,
with Twin Brothers, a Bull, Fishes,
but you don't guess what
Herr Simplicity says.

If you don't fly, you need an angstrom
not to fall from your balcony
into the infinite, to Father Moebius.

Down there, a passer-by named Dos Passos
shouts: <"Lauda" buries us.>

In the sky, a point burned aware,
and the Cosmos became a square.

1803, FRANCE
-by Michaela Al. Orescu (Romania)-

near Alancon
explosion of fireball
and rain of stones

TO STEFAN (NELU) TUDOR
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe (Romania)-

My favourite cousin
used to offer me wonderful vacations
taking me by boat
on the Danube River
among joyous fishes, various ships
and surprising waves.

"I have a fire in me,"
one day he said,
"let's write a story
as striking as this river."

Unfortunately,
we did not have time for it,
he died too young,
but after, I understood:

we had already composed a story
in which God called my cousin
in the heavens
because he was a striking fireball
and the Danube River was his train.

GREETINGS FROM AUSTRIA,
THE HOME OF MAIN MASS
-by Stefan Brandes (Austria)-

I'm looking for little stones
like I'm to be that Indi Jones.
Not finding any real ET
I'm searching hard to convince me,
they're out there somewhere, neat and fine
these little stones from Neuschwanstein.

-(first published in the "meteorite-list")-

IN THE SPIRIT OF THE HAIKU
-by Tina Visarian (Romania)-

Celestial steps without shadows -
we forgot meteors in a corner
driving away the gift of light

AWAKENED BY ORIONIDS
-a haiku story by Dominic Diamant (Romania)-

Who knows
the destinies of constellations
and stars?

One night,
awakened by Orionid meteors,
I saw the star hunter.

"Do you sell
your belt, Orion?"
"No, you can take it for nothing."

Pleasantly surprised, I said:
"The treasure is yours.
Please keep it. Thanks."

WHITE ARROW
-by Irina Cristescu (Romania)-

Meteor -
fine sand of dreams
white foam of hope
in chameleonic sky

The meteor of my life fell
into an unknown abyss
of light and paradise
piercing the ephemeral

In fact, I lived vainly
the meteor of my life
was a fireball without hope

ONCE UPON A TIME
-by Maxim Matvei (the Moldavian Republic)-

There was a meteor in the Universe;
some saw it like an angel,
but others extracted it
like an engineer lost in the infinite.

HAIKU
-by Dominic Diamant (Romania)-

Divine sprites
flashing in celestial waters -
the Leonids

LEONID 18TH NOVEMBER 2006
-by David M. Turner (U.K.)-

I do not know what woke me
In the witching hours
Of the long November night.
No noise could be heard
Over the still, quiet
Cold
Settling upon the long pre-morning,
Yet my dog
Growled
Quietly deep into his belly
And his hackles rose menacingly.
Opening the door
The almost frosted air
Rushed in
And the dog rushed out
Only to stand confused by the lack of threat.
The stars were bright.
Bold Orion strode
Centre stage
Across the pantheon of gods,
His sword hanging ready
From his great belt
Studded with three, fire-filled diamonds.
Saturn, low and luminescent,
Watched from the far South
As Orion continued
His eternal pursuit
Of the Great Bear
That was
Padding across the sky
Far to the North.
Silence and cold
And the unending drama of the constellations
All seemed expectant -
Then
I saw an angel fall from heaven!
He slipped high in the East
Beginning a long descent
From his place at Saturn's right hand
To the miserable cold of this Earthly Hell.
I watched his fiery fall
In amazement.
His sudden nemesis
Seemed to last for long minutes,
At first searing a glittering vertical
Into high heaven,
Then, as his end neared,
Burning brighter and brighter,
Till, low above the
Dawn expectant sky
A final burst of spent and sparkling spirit
Briefly lit the watching, wondering night.

GEMINID FIREBALL 2006
-by Valentin Grigore (Romania)-

A -10 magnitude emotion
flashing my face and all around
with a strong blue light,
and leaving a train like a lance
sketching the pirouettes
of a short celestial life
in the colours of the spectrum.

V. END OF THE YEAR

THE STAR OF THE KINGS
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe (Romania)-

A new hypothesis says
the Star of the Kings was a giant fireball.

Following all the hypotheses
and blending them,
sometimes I imagine that
the Star of the Kings was a heavenly body
with magical powers of transformation,
becoming a supernova,
becoming Comet Halley,
becoming three Saturn-Jupiter conjunctions,
becoming a Venus-Jupiter conjunction
supervised by the star Regulus,
becoming a fireball...

and making me wish all of you
from every winter solstice:

"HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

***

OTHER METEOR POETRY LINKS
Andrei Dorian Gheorghe's Works
http://www.cosmopoetry.ro/3astro-sketch/
Alastair McBeath's Leonids - sort of
http://www.astropoetica.com/Fall05/iap_6.html
The Best of SARM - Astro-Photo-Art-Poetry
http://www.cosmopoetry.ro/tbos/
Astropoetic Dramas
http://sarm.astropoetica.com/astrodrama/contents.html

Andrei Dorian Gheorghe's Moon, Planets, Meteors
http://www.astropoetica.com/Winter04/moonplanets.html
David Asher & Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
http://www.astropoetica.com/Winter05/iap_4.html
Jeremie Vaubaillon's Poems
http://www.imcce.fr/en/presentation/equipes/GAP/membres/JV/Song_of_the_IMC04.htm\
l

Romanian Comet Contemporary Poetry
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/comets-ml/message/9436

* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Valentin Grigore
President of SARM - Societatea Astronomica Romana de Meteori
   (Romanian Society for Meteors and Astronomy)
Calea Domneasca 214, bl.48, sc.A, ap.6
   Targoviste 130016, Dambovita, Romania
phone: +40 245 213851, +40 0722829034 (gsm)
e-mail: vali_sarm@..., vali.grigore@...
http://www.sarm.ro
http://www.geocities.com/valisarm
http://www.cosmopoetry.ro
***************************************************************
SARM is the national astronomical society of Romania
   and an youth organization
****************************************************************


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The latest set of Geminid observations received by the North American
Meteor Network have been added to our website. The current totals
include 21 observers:

Salvador Aguirre, Mexico
Joseph Assmus, USA
Michael Boschat, Canada
Ed Cannon, USA
Tibor Csorgei, Slovakia
George Gliba, USA
Bill Godley, USA
Wayne Hally, USA
Roberto Haver, Italy
Bhargav Joshi, India
Javor Kac, Slovenia
Vijay Likhite, India
Mike Linnolt, USA
David Love, USA
Paul Martsching, USA
Bruce McCurdy, Canada
Mayuresh Prabhune, India
David Swann, USA
Harry Waldron, USA
William Watson, USA
Kim Youmans, USA

reporting 80.91 hours of observations and 2,832 meteors:

METEOR SHOWER                   NUMBER OBSERVED
COM: Coma Berenicids                  20
GEM: Geminids                       2242
HYD: Sigma-Hydrids                    16
MON: Monocerotids                     62
XOR: Chi Orionids                     32

SPO: Sporadics                       460


To view the observing summaries, follow the Recent Meteor Observations link
at http://www.namnmeteors.org . If anyone sees any errors, please let me
know.

Clear skies, and thanks to all of the observers who submitted reports!!

Mark Davis, South Carolina, USA
meteors@...
namn@...

December is the last month of strong activity as seen in the northern
hemisphere. During the first half of the month minor showers are active in
the constellations of Taurus (Antihelions), Monoceros (Monocerotids), Puppis
(Puppid-Velids), Hydra (Sigma Hydrids), and Leo (Coma Berenicids). Strong
sporadic rates continue during the morning hours as long as the moon is
below the horizon. Rates increase significantly with the arrival of the
Geminids during the second week of the month. From the southern hemisphere,
sporadic rates are increasing in strength toward a peak in January. Meteors
from the above minor showers are also well seen from south of the equator.
The Geminids also increase the southern activity, but not nearly to the
extent that is witnessed in the northern hemisphere.

This week the moon reaches its new phase on Wednesday December 20. At this
time the moon will rise and set with the sun and will not be visible in the
night sky. This weekend the waning crescent moon will no be a factor as it
will be too skinny and rise too late to cause any problems for observers.
The estimated total hourly rates for evening observers this week is near
four for those located north of the equator and three for observers south of
the equator. For morning observers the estimated total hourly rates should
be near twenty-five for northern observers and eighteen for those located
south of the equator. These rates assume that you are watching from rural
areas away from all sources of light pollution. The actual rates will also
depend on factors such as personal light and motion perception, local
weather conditions, alertness and experience in watching meteor activity.

The radiant positions listed below are exact for Saturday night/Sunday
morning December 16/17. These positions do not change greatly day to day so
the listed coordinates may be used during this entire period. Most star
atlases (available at science stores and planetariums) will provide maps
with grid lines of the celestial coordinates so that you may find out
exactly where these positions are located in the sky. A planisphere or
computer planetarium program is also useful in showing the sky at any time
of night on any date of the year. Activity from each radiant is best seen
when it is positioned highest in the sky, either due north or south along
the meridian, depending on your latitude. It must be remembered that meteor
activity is rarely seen at the radiant position. Rather they shoot outwards
from the radiant so it is best to center your field of view so that the
radiant lies at the edge and not the center. This method will allow you to
easily trace the path of each meteor back to the radiant (if it is a shower
member) or in another direction if it is a sporadic. Meteor activity is not
seen from radiants that are located below the horizon. The positions below
are listed in a west to east manner in order of right ascension (celestial
longitude). The positions listed first are located further west therefore
are accessible earlier in the night while those listed further down the list
rise later in the night.

These showers are expected to be active this week:

The Antihelion (ANT) radiant is now centered at 06:32 (098) +23. This area
of the sky lies in western Gemini, three degrees west of the third magnitude
star Epsilon Geminorum. This radiant is best placed near 0100 LST when it
lies on the meridian and is highest in the sky. Rates at this time should be
near three per hour as seen from the northern hemisphere and two per hour
for observers located south of the equator. With an entry velocity of 30
km/sec., the average Antihelion meteor would be of medium-slow speed.

The Monocerotids (MON) are currently active from a radiant located at 07:00
(105) +08. This area of the sky is located in eastern Monoceros, ten degrees
northwest of the zero magnitude star Procyon (Alpha Canis Minoris). These
meteors are best seen near 0100 local standard time when the radiant lies
highest above the horizon. This shower is nearly over for 2006 so rates
would now be less than one per hour, no matter your location. At 42 km/sec.
the Monocerotids produce meteors of average velocity.

The Geminids (GEM) peaked on the night of December 13/14. Rates are now near
five per hour and the shower will cease past the weekend. The radiant is
located at 07:40 (115) +33. This area of the sky is located in northern
Gemini, just one degree northeast 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 Coma Berenicids (COM) peak near December 20 with an average ZHR of five.
The current location of this radiant is 11:40 (175) +25. This area of the
sky is located in a remote area of eastern Leo some ten degrees northwest of
the second magnitude star Denebola (Beta Leonis). This radiant is probably
responsible for the many reports of activity in Leo during the month of
December. These meteors are best seen near 0600 local standard time when the
radiant lies highest above the horizon. At 65 km/sec. the Coma Berenicids
will usually produce meteors of swift velocity.

Sirko Molau's study of video radiants has revealed activity during the
period December 19-24, from an area in northern Virgo. Maximum occurs on
December 20 with the radiant located at 13:28 (202) +09. This position lies
five degrees southeast of the third magnitude star Vindemiatrix (Epsilon
Virginis). This radiant is best placed during the last dark hour before dawn
when it lies highest in a dark sky. It appears that three percent of the
total sporadic activity for the night is related to this radiant. At
62km/sec., the average meteor from this radiant would be swift.

The Ursids (URS) peak on December 23 with an average ZHR of ten. Current
rates would be less than one per hour. The location of this radiant is 14:28
(217) +77. This area of the sky is located in southern Ursae Minor, close to
the orange second magnitude star Kochab (Beta Ursae Minoris). These meteors
are best seen during the last dark hour before dawn when the radiant lies
highest above the horizon. Due to the high northern declination (celestial
latitude), this shower is not visible to observers located south of the
equator. At 33 km/sec. the Ursids will usually produce meteors of medium to
slow velocity. To read more on viewing the Ursid shower visit the AMS
website at: http://www.amsmeteors.org/showers.html#ursids

Sporadic rates have reached the late year plateau for observers located in
the northern hemisphere. One would expect to see perhaps fifteen random
meteors during the last hour before dawn from rural observing sites. During
the first dark hour after the end of evening twilight, perhaps four random
meteors can be seen per hour. Sporadic rates increase as the night
progresses so rates seen near midnight would be near ten per hour. Sporadic
rates seen from the southern hemisphere have passed their annual minimum and
are rising again. One would expect to see approximately twelve random
meteors per hour during the last hour before dawn and three per hour during
the first dark hour after the end of evening twilight. Rates near midnight
would be near eight per hour.

Antihelion (ANT) - 06:32 (098) +23
Northern Hemisphere - 3   Southern Hemisphere - 2

Monocerotids (MON)  07:00 (105) +08
Northern Hemisphere - >1   Southern Hemisphere - >1

Geminids (GEM)  07:12 (108) +33
Northern Hemisphere - 5   Southern Hemisphere - 2

Coma Berenicids (COM)  11:40 (175) +25
Northern Hemisphere - 3   Southern Hemisphere - 2

Epsilon Virginids (EVR)  13:28 (202) +09
Northern Hemisphere - 1   Southern Hemisphere - 1

Ursids (URS)  14:28 (217) +77
Northern Hemisphere - >1   Southern Hemisphere - 0

Clear Skies!
Robert Lunsford
International Meteor Organization

The latest set of observations for December (mostly Geminid reports)
received by the North American Meteor Network have been added to our
website. The current totals include 14 observers:

Joseph Assmus, USA
Michael Boschat, Canada
Ed Cannon, USA
Tibor Csorgei, Slovakia
George Gliba, USA
Bhargav Joshi, India
Javor Kac, Slovenia
Mike Linnolt, USA
David Love, USA
Paul Martsching, USA
Bruce McCurdy, Canada
Harry Waldron, USA
William Watson, USA
Kim Youmans, USA

reporting 55.31 hours of observations and 2,126 meteors:

METEOR SHOWER                   NUMBER OBSERVED
COM: Coma Berenicids                   11
GEM: Geminids                        1667
HYD: Sigma-Hydrids                     15
MON: Monocerotids                      59
XOR: Chi Orionids                      32

SPO: Sporadics                        342

To view the observing summaries, follow the Recent Meteor Observations link
at http://www.namnmeteors.org . If anyone sees any errors, please let me
know. I still have a few observations to go through and hope to update the
website again later this weekend.

Clear skies, and thanks to all of the observers who submitted reports!!

Mark Davis, South Carolina, USA
meteors@...
namn@...

Results of the IMO Video Meteor Network - November 2006
=======================================================

In November things came back to normality. Even though the weather remained
much too warm in central Europe, it was often clouded or foggy at many sites.
Only two observers managed to collect 20 or more observing nights, and
consequently there was no other series of new records. Thanks to the 24
cameras, the total was still impressive with almost 1500 hours effective
observing time and 6300 meteors. That's more than in any November before.

With Bernd Brinkmann, we could welcome a new observer in the video network.
Bernd operates his Mintron camera from Herne observatory in west Germany, and
he is well located for double-station observations with Joerg Strunk. The
fields of view of both cameras are aligned accordingly.

There were two events in November worth to be discussed in detail. At first
we had the Leonids. They were predicted to show for the last time in
the current cycle enhanced activity from a nearby dust trail. Maximum
activity with ZHRs between 100 and 150 and mainly faint meteors was forcasted
by the "usual suspects" for about 4:45 UT on November 19.

Even though the weather was not ideal, many visual observers managed to get
a least a glimpse on the Leonids. The video observers were less successful,
though. Even though almost every observer could record a few meteors in the
evening (an overall of 18 cameras were in operation - given that the data of
Remo1 is still missing, this might become a new record? :-), clouds and fog
showed up at most sites in the morning. In the end only Stephen Evans (on the
island) and Flavio Castellani (south of the Alps)  were able to record up to
dawn under constantly good conditions. There are also data from Ondrejov
observatory, but at their site a thin cloud blanket show up in the morning
making it impossible to derive a proper activity profile.

Both cameras mentioned above are non-intensified, such that faint Leonids
could not be recorded. The 30-min interval counts (corrected for the radiant
altitude) showed a slightly different picture for each camera: The corrected
Leonid counts of RF1 doubled between 4:30 and 6:00 UT. BMH1, on the other hand,
observed highest activity between 3:30 and 4:00 and after 4:30 UT. The
overall profile shows also enhanced activity between 0:00 and 0:30, but the
correction factors were quite large at that time due to the low radiant:

2006/11/19       RF1             BMH1          RF1 + BMH1
    UT       # LEO  # SPO    # LEO  # SPO   LEO/h/sin hR  SPO/h
--------------------------------------------------------------
00:00-00:30    1      2        4      1        14.6       3.0
00:30-01:00    0      3        3      0         6.6       3.0
01:00-01:30    0      4        0      0         0.0       4.0
01:30-02:00    1      3        2      0         5.4       3.0
02:00-02:30    1      2        2      0         4.9       2.0
02:30-03:00    1      2        2      3         4.5       5.0
03:00-03:30    1      0       10      1        14.7       1.0
03:30-04:00    0      5        3      2         3.8       7.0
04:00-04:30    2      3        9      0        13.5       3.0
04:30-05:00    6      5        5      3        13.4       8.0
05:00-05:30    5      4                        12.0       8.0
05:30-06:00    5      6                        11.8      12.0
--------------------------------------------------------------

Bottom line: Our video data confirm enhanced Leonid activity in the morning of
November 19, but we cannot give details on the maximum time or activity level.

The second highlight of November is connected with another probably unknown
meteor shower that was observed. By the end of November, SonotaCo informed me
about unusual activity that was noticed by Japanese video observers between
November 24 and 26 - this time originating from northern Orion. Mr. Uehara
found a radiant from 13 meteor pairs at alpha=88 deg and delta=15.9 deg with
a velocity of 39.6 km/s. He noticed that this radiant was consistent with
"shower #72" in the list that was presented by me at the last IMC. This shower
was detected between solar longitude 243 and 255 (November 12 - December 5)
with a radiant at alpha=88.2 deg, delta=15.5 deg on November 25 and a mean
velocity of 44 km/s. In my analysis "shower #72" was identified as the
Monocerotids, even though there was significant discrepancy to the radiant
position given in the IMO Working List (alpha=86 deg, delta=8 deg, v=40 km/s).

But that's only half of the story: In early November I received a letter by
Dr. Ichiro Hasegawa, that was a big surprise to me. He was so kind and sent
me mean orbits he had calculated for each meteor shower I had presented at
the IMC. Imagine my happiness when I realized how well the orbital elements
of "shower #72" agreed with the preliminary Japanese values of Mr. Uehara:

Data Set     Longitude of  Argument of  Incli-   Eccen-  Perihelion  Semimajor
              ascend. node  perihelion   nation  tricity   distance      axis
                 [deg]         [deg]      [deg]              [AE]        [AE]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IMO Network     65.5          142.9       21.9    0.957     0.119       2.782
(I. Hasegawa)
SonotaCo Netw.  62.4          144.0       21.9    1.0       0.1         2.8
(S. Uehara)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From this comparison, two things can be concluded: The most important message
for me was, that realiable orbital elements can be derived also from single
station video data.

Furthermore, the Japanese observations confirm the deviation of the radiant
obtained by the IMO video network from the one given in the IMO Working List.
The radar and photographic Monocerotid orbits given in the IMO Visual Handbook
have only little in common with the values given above, too. Either those
orbits do not fit to the Monocerotids, or we observed a new meteor shower that
has only by chance some similarity to the Monocerotids.


1. Observers
============

Code    Name        Place           Camera         FOV    LM Nights Time Meteors
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BENOR Benitez-S.  Las Palmas    TIMES4 (1.5/50)   20 dg  3 mag  12   24.6 h   40
                                 TIMES5 (0.95/50)  10 dg  3 mag  15   26.6 h   43
BRIBE Brinkmann   Herne         Hermine (0.8/6)   55 dg  3 mag   8   77.6 h  209
CASFL Castellani  Monte Basso   BMH1 (0.8/6)      55 dg  3 mag  19  153.9 h  436
ELTMA Eltri       Venezia       MET38 (0.8/3.8)   80 dg  3 mag   6   58.5 h  233
EVAST Evans       Moreton       RF1 (0.8/12)      25 dg  5 mag  11   94.0 h  378
HINWO Hinz        Brannenburg   AKM2 (0.85/25)    32 dg  5 mag  12   61.2 h  367
KACJA Kac         Kostanjevec   METKA (0.8/8)     55 dg  3 mag  18   96.0 h  220
                   Kamnik        REZIKA (0.8/6)    55 dg  3 mag  13   46.0 h  249
KOSDE Koschny     Noordwijkerh. ICC3 (0.85/25)    25 dg  5 mag   7   43.4 h  186
LUNRO Lunsford    Chula Vista   BOCAM (1.4/50)    60 dg  6 mag  13   93.0 h  810
MOLSI Molau       Seysdorf      AVIS2 (1.4/50)    60 dg  6 mag  11   47.8 h  625
                                 MINCAM1 (0.8/6)   55 dg  3 mag  19  101.6 h  376
SLAST Slavec      Ljubljana     KAYAK1 (1.8/28)   50 dg  4 mag  22   96.6 h  187
SPEUL Sperberg    Salzwedel     AKM1 (0.85/2)     32 dg  5 mag   8   35.1 h  111
STOEN Stomeo      Scorze        MIN38 (0.8/3.8)   80 dg  3 mag  10   69.0 h  297
STORO Stork       Ondrejov      OND1 (1.4/50)     55 dg  6 mag   1    4.4 h  158
STRJO Strunk      Leopoldshoehe MINCAM2 (0.8/6)   55 dg  3 mag  20   89.1 h  330
                                 MINCAM3 (0.8/8)   42 dg  4 mag   5   10.6 h   28
                                 MINCAM4 (1.4/2)  180 dg  0 mag   5   20.1 h    6
                                 MINCAM5 (0.8/6)   55 dg  3 mag   7   46.2 h  255
TRIMI Triglav     Velenje       SRAKA (0.8/6)     55 dg  3 mag  19  125.3 h  438
YRJIL Yrjola      Kuusankoski   FINEXCAM (0.8/6)  55 dg  3 mag   9   46.4 h  272
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum                                                             30 1467.0h  6295


2. Observing Times (h)
======================

Nov    01   02   03   04   05   06   07   08   09   10   11   12   13   14   15
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BENOR   -   3.7   -    -    -    -    -    -   1.0  0.6   -    -   0.7   -    -
         -   0.7   -    -    -    -    -    -   1.6  2.6   -    -   0.9   -    -
BRIBE   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -  12.1
CASFL 11.8 11.9 11.9  9.0   -   9.0  5.1  4.9 10.8 12.0  3.1 12.2 10.2  6.6  3.2
ELTRI   -  11.0 11.0   -    -    -    -    -    -   9.7   -   2.3   -    -    -
EVAST  9.9 11.3 11.1   -    -    -    -   7.3  7.6  5.0   -    -    -    -    -
HINWO   -    -    -    -    -   2.5  3.0  1.1   -   9.9   -    -    -    -    -
KACJA   -   4.4   -   1.2   -   6.7  4.9   -   6.9  5.7   -   5.3  5.3  6.3  9.9
         -   1.3   -    -    -   6.8  7.0   -   3.0   -    -   4.5  0.3  3.4   -
KOSDE   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
LUNRO   -    -    -    -    -    -  10.3  9.6   -    -   7.3   -    -   6.5  3.9
MOLSI   -    -    -    -    -    -   0.6   -   4.0  4.7   -    -    -    -   5.9
        3.3  0.2  4.4   -    -   8.8  4.4  5.8  6.2  5.5  0.7   -   0.9  1.2 13.0
SLAST  3.3  3.5  5.5  4.0  4.3  3.3  5.7  1.5  2.0  3.0  3.6  9.3  5.1  4.6  4.3
SPEUL   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -   2.2   -    -   5.6
STOEN   -  11.3  4.1   -    -    -    -    -    -  11.4   -   2.4   -   5.2   -
STORO   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
STRJO  3.0  2.0   -    -    -    -   2.6   -   4.7   -   0.7   -   1.0   -   8.1
        0.5   -    -    -    -    -    -    -   1.0   -    -    -    -    -   7.6
        3.0  2.0   -    -    -    -   1.4   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
         -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -   9.1
TRIMI   -    -    -   2.8  1.0 10.3 10.4  9.3   -   8.2  1.3  9.4   -   6.5 10.6
YRJIL   -    -   8.0  5.5  1.4   -   1.4  8.6   -   1.7   -    -    -    -    -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum   34.8 63.3 56.0 22.5  6.7 47.4 56.8 48.1 48.8 80.0 16.7 47.6 24.4 40.3 93.3

Nov    16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BENOR   -   0.8  1.3   -    -   2.9   -   2.4  4.2   -   0.8   -    -   2.7  3.5
         -   0.9  0.3   -    -   2.0  1.9  3.5  0.7  0.8  2.3  2.5   -   3.4  2.5
BRIBE   -  12.3  1.7  8.9   -  13.0   -   5.0   -    -   9.2  6.1   -   9.3   -
CASFL  7.8   -   9.3   -   3.8   -   6.4  4.9   -    -    -    -    -    -    -
ELTRI   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -  12.2 12.3
EVAST  6.8  9.1  9.1   -    -   8.7   -    -    -   8.1   -    -    -    -    -
HINWO   -    -   5.0   -    -    -   6.0  3.8  6.2 10.4  4.2  2.0   -    -   7.1
KACJA  7.4  6.1  3.0  7.3   -   0.3   -   7.4  1.8  6.1   -    -    -    -    -
         -   3.3  4.8   -    -    -    -   9.7   -   0.5  0.3   -    -    -   1.1
KOSDE   -   1.3  5.1  7.6   -   0.4   -    -    -    -  11.0  8.4   -   9.6   -
LUNRO 11.4  4.1  5.7  6.4 11.7  6.9  4.5   -    -    -   4.7   -    -    -    -
MOLSI  5.5   -   1.8   -   4.2   -   6.6  2.4  7.7  4.4   -    -    -    -    -
        6.9   -   1.3   -   8.7   -  11.8  5.8  5.3  7.4   -    -    -    -    -
SLAST   -   2.5  3.5  3.5   -    -   1.1 11.3   -    -   8.3  3.4   -    -    -
SPEUL  1.4  3.7  8.5   -    -   2.5   -    -    -    -   4.9  6.3   -    -    -
STOEN   -    -    -    -   0.7   -   6.1  6.1   -    -    -    -    -  10.2 11.5
STORO   -    -   4.4   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
STRJO  1.7  8.2  9.2  4.9   -   7.5  0.7  4.3  0.2   -  13.2  7.4  0.5  3.8  5.4
         -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -   0.5  1.0   -
         -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -  13.2   -   0.5   -    -
         -   9.1  4.8   -    -   4.2  1.0   -    -    -  10.0  8.0   -    -    -
TRIMI  9.3  6.8  7.3  9.1   -   1.1   -   8.2   -   5.6  7.3   -   0.8   -    -
YRJIL   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -   2.9  9.8   -    -   7.1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum   58.2 68.2 86.1 47.7 29.1 49.5 46.1 74.8 26.1 43.3 92.3 53.9  2.3 52.2 50.5


3. Results (Meteors)
====================

Nov    01   02   03   04   05   06   07   08   09   10   11   12   13   14   15
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BENOR   -    7    -    -    -    -    -    -    1    1    -    -    2    -    -
         -    1    -    -    -    -    -    -    1    3    -    -    1    -    -
BRIBE   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -   36
CASFL  31   33   41   27    -   27   19   14   30   21    8   17   29   27    1
ELTRI   -   60   37    -    -    -    -    -    -   33    -    5    -    -    -
EVAST  51   46   31    -    -    -    -   21   12   10    -    -    -    -    -
HINWO   -    -    -    -    -   24   28    7    -   28    -    -    -    -    -
KACJA   -    9    -    2    -   12   18    -   12   11    -   15    7   15   24
         -    7    -    -    -   36   36    -    9    -    -   23    4   14    -
KOSDE   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
LUNRO   -    -    -    -    -    -   70   55    -    -   29    -    -   32   62
MOLSI   -    -    -    -    -    -    2    -   44   33    -    -    -    -  117
        15    1   13    -    -   32   42   20   34   20    3    -    2   10   46
SLAST  18    9    9    3    5    3    7    1    2    7    7   21   13    7    5
SPEUL   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    3    -    -   26
STOEN   -   64    9    -    -    -    -    -    -   42    -    4    -   21    -
STORO   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
STRJO  12   11    -    -    -    -   14    -   20    -    3    -    4    -   39
         1    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    3    -    -    -    -    -   18
         2    1    -    -    -    -    1    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
         -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -   62
TRIMI   -    -    -    5    4   23   25   32    -   24    7   39   35   19   41
YRJIL   -    -   76   31    1    -    8   60    -    6    -    -    -    -    -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum   130  249  216   68   10  157  270  210  168  239   57  127   97  145  477

Nov    16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BENOR   -    1    2    -    -    5    -    4    7    -    1    -    -    4    5
         -    2    1    -    -    4    4    5    1    1    5    5    -    5    4
BRIBE   -   35    4   28    -   29    -   21    -    -   26   20    -   10    -
CASFL   9    -   70    -    8    -   20    4    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
ELTRI   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -   50   48
EVAST  26   47   81    -    -   27    -    -    -   26    -    -    -    -    -
HINWO   -    -   57    -    -    -   52   20   19   69   15   12    -    -   36
KACJA  22   11    6   19    -    1    -   15    7   14    -    -    -    -    -
         -    7   30    -    -    -    -   77    -    2    1    -    -    -    3
KOSDE   -    2   19   13    -    6    -    -    -    -   58   52    -   36    -
LUNRO 102   63   70  101  102   50   44    -    -    -   30    -    -    -    -
MOLSI  81    -   15    -   58    -  117   24   67   67    -    -    -    -    -
        35    -    4    -   12    -   45    7   16   19    -    -    -    -    -
SLAST   -    3    5    8    -    -    2   33    -    -   14    5    -    -    -
SPEUL   4    8   30    -    -    4    -    -    -    -   11   25    -    -    -
STOEN   -    -    -    -    2    -   24   24    -    -    -    -    -   54   53
STORO   -    -  158    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
STRJO   4   22   21   29    -   30    2   14    1    -   41   28    1   15   19
         -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    1    5    -
         -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    1    -    1    -    -
         -   43   33    -    -   25    4    -    -    -   43   45    -    -    -
TRIMI  63   17   26   35    -    3    -   28    -   28   24    -    1    -    -
YRJIL   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    7   43    -    -   40
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum   346  261  632  233  182  184  314  276  118  226  277  235    4  179  208

--
************************************************************
*   Sirko Molau                 *                          *
*   Abenstalstr. 13b            *              __          *
*   D-84072 Seysdorf            *       " 2B v 2B "        *
*   Germany                     *                          *
*   phone: +49-8752-869438      *             Shakespeare  *
*   email: sirko@...       *                          *
*   www  : www.molau.de         *                          *
************************************************************

Dear meteoroidologists,

An "on the fly" ZHR graph for the upcoming Geminids maximum is now available
at: http://www.imo.net/live/geminids2006/
The page will contain data reported through the IMO electronic form (+- 2
minutes delay). Note that by using the electronic form, you allow for more
effective data processing and quality control.

In addition, the Leonids page has been extended with VMDB data and new
statistics: http://www.imo.net/live/leonids2006/
Note that these are automated results without population index or perception
corrections applied, so keep an eye on WGN for scientific results.

We hope this feature motivates your observing efforts!  Suggestions and
changes are very welcome (source code is open).

Clear skies!
Geert


PS: A bug in the electronic form may have triggered incorrect errors for
Internet Explorer users on western longitudes. The problem has been fixed
now. Apologies!


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi all,

I am a TV-meteor observer in Japan.

This is a brief of the Japanese topic of below.
http://sonotaco.jp/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1234

I noticed on 6th December 2006 that there was an concentration at Draconis.
I estimated the center of them as ra=202deg, dec=+64deg, Vg=40km/s.
During 4th and 6th December, there are 6 simultaneous observations in the
data of SonotaCo Network that were close to this radiant.
Many of them were bright (.>=0mag).
SonotaCo(The author of 'UFOCapture' series) named this shower as "aDr" for
the temporarily.
I also noticed that the orbit of "aDr" is similar to the following showers.
They have almost same Vg(preatmospheric velocity).

Qua = Shower 83
Shower 73
Shower 78
(Shower xx : Sirko Molau IMC pdf http://www.metrec.org/imc06.pdf )

SonotaCo adapted these radiants to his new radiant movement calculation
method (implemented in UFORadiant Feb/2006).
It assumes that a radiant moves on one great circle by same angular
velocity.
Though it uses same notation "dra" and "ddec", it treats them as a unit
vector that shows the moving direction and the angular velocity at the peak
coordinate of the shower.

As the result, SonotaCo found that the 5 showers(Qua, aDr, Shower 73, Shower
78, and Shower 83) meets very well on one circle that is defined by below.

peak: 4/Jan sol=284 ra=229 dec=51 dra=0.6deg/day ddec=-0.52deg/day
Vg=40.6km/s

We are now thinking that the "aDr" was the early outburst of Quadrantids,
and the Shower 73, 78 may be the same.

However, this result disproves known radiant point drift of Quadrantids.
We had better continue observation until maximum day and inspect it further
more.

Satoshi Uehara (Nippon Meteor Society)

December is the last month of strong activity as seen in the northern
hemisphere. During the first half of the month minor showers are active in
the constellations of Taurus (Antihelions), Monoceros (Monocerotids), Puppis
(Puppid-Velids), Hydra (Sigma Hydrids), and Leo (Coma Berenicids). Strong
sporadic rates continue during the morning hours as long as the moon is
below the horizon. Rates increase significantly with the arrival of the
Geminids during the second week of the month. From the southern hemisphere,
sporadic rates are increasing in strength toward a peak in January. Meteors
from the above minor showers are also well seen from south of the equator.
The Geminids also increase the southern activity, but not nearly to the
extent that is witnessed in the northern hemisphere.

This week the moon reaches its last quarter phase on Tuesday December 12. At
this time the moon will rise near midnight local standard time and will be
present in the sky the remainder of the morning. This weekend the glare from
the waning gibbous moon will cause problems for meteor observers. Only the
brighter meteors will be visible. This situation will improve with each
passing night as the moon's phase wanes and it rises later each night. The
estimated total hourly rates for evening observers this week is near four
for those north of the equator and three for observers south of the equator.
For morning observers the estimated total hourly rates should be near thirty
for northern observers and sixteen for those south of the equator. These
rates assume that you are watching from rural areas away from all sources of
light pollution. The actual rates will also depend on factors such as
personal light and motion perception, local weather conditions, alertness
and experience in watching meteor activity. Morning rates are reduced due to
moonlight this week.

The radiant positions listed below are exact for Saturday night/Sunday
morning December 9/10. These positions do not change greatly day to day so
the listed coordinates may be used during this entire period. Most star
atlases (available at science stores and planetariums) will provide maps
with grid lines of the celestial coordinates so that you may find out
exactly where these positions are located in the sky. A planisphere or
computer planetarium program is also useful in showing the sky at any time
of night on any date of the year. Activity from each radiant is best seen
when it is positioned highest in the sky, either due north or south along
the meridian, depending on your latitude. It must be remembered that meteor
activity is rarely seen at the radiant position. Rather they shoot outwards
from the radiant so it is best to center your field of view so that the
radiant lies at the edge and not the center. This method will allow you to
easily trace the path of each meteor back to the radiant (if it is a shower
member) or in another direction if it is a sporadic. Meteor activity is not
seen from radiants that are located below the horizon. The positions below
are listed in a west to east manner in order of right ascension (celestial
longitude). The positions listed first are located further west therefore
are accessible earlier in the night while those listed further down the list
rise later in the night.

These showers are expected to be active this week:

The Antihelion (ANT) radiant is now centered at 06:00 (090) +23. This area
of the sky lies in western Gemini near the fourth magnitude star 1
Geminorum. This radiant is best placed near 0100 LST when it lies on the
meridian and is highest in the sky. Rates at this time should be near two
per hour as seen from the northern hemisphere and one per hour for observers
located south of the equator. With an entry velocity of 30 km/sec., the
average Antihelion meteor would be of medium-slow speed. Don't confuse these
meteors with the much stronger Geminid radiant, which lies a bit further
east.

The Monocerotids (MON) are currently active from a radiant located at 06:40
(100) +08. This area of the sky is located in northern Monoceros, eight
degrees south of the 2nd magnitude star Alhena (Gamma Geminorum). These
meteors are best seen near 0100 local standard time when the radiant lies
highest above the horizon. The peak for the Monocerotids occurred on
December 8 with an expected ZHR of three. This shower would be equally well
seen from both hemispheres. At 42 km/sec. the Monocerotids produce meteors
of average velocity.

The Geminids 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 at 07:12 (108) +33. This area of the sky 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. A detailed article on how to
observe and photograph the Geminids is available at:
http://www.amsmeteors.org/showers.html#geminids

The Puppid-Velids (PUP) is a vast complex of weak radiants located in the
constellations of Puppis and Vela. Visual plots and photographic studies
have revealed many radiants in this area during November and December. The
combined strength of these radiants can produce a ZHR of ten. Actual hourly
rates will be much less unless you happen to be observing from the deep
Southern Hemisphere. The center of this activity is currently located at
08:20 (125) -45. This position lies in western Vela, three degrees northeast
of the second magnitude star Gamma Velorum. These meteors are best seen near
0300 LST when the radiant lies highest above the horizon in a dark sky.
Observers located in the Southern Hemisphere have an advantage viewing this
shower as the radiant will rise higher into their sky allowing more activity
to be seen. At 40 km/sec. the Puppid-Velids produce meteors of average
velocity.

The Sigma Hydrids are currently active from a radiant located at 08:24 (126)
+02. This area of the sky is located in western Hydra, three degrees
southwest of the fourth magnitude star Sigma Hydrae. These meteors are best
seen near 0300 local standard time when the radiant lies highest above the
horizon. The predicted peak for the Sigma Hydrids occurs on December 12 when
the ZHR reaches two. Recent studies have indicated that this shower may peak
earlier in the month so careful monitoring this week of any activity would
be valuable. Current rates would be near one shower member per hour. At 58
km/sec. the Sigma Hydrids produce meteors of average to swift velocity.

The Coma Berenicids (COM) are usually noticed a bit later in the month.
Video studies by Sirko Molau have shown that the shower actually begins near
December 5 and peaks near December 20. During the early portion of its
activity it provides approximately five percent of the overall meteor
activity. The current location of this radiant would near 10:04 (151) +35.
This area of the sky is located in central Leo Minor. This radiant is
probably responsible for the many reports of activity in Leo during the
month of December. These meteors are best seen near 0500 local standard time
when the radiant lies highest above the horizon. At 65 km/sec. the Coma
Berenicids will usually produce meteors of swift velocity.

Sporadic rates have reached the late year plateau for observers located in
the northern hemisphere. One would expect to see perhaps twelve random
meteors during the last hour before dawn from rural observing sites. During
the first dark hour after the end of evening twilight, perhaps four random
meteors can be seen per hour. Sporadic rates increase as the night
progresses so rates seen near midnight would be near eight per hour.
Sporadic rates seen from the southern hemisphere have passed their annual
minimum and are rising again. One would expect to see approximately five
random meteors per hour during the last hour before dawn and two per hour
during the first dark hour after the end of evening twilight. Rates near
midnight would be near three per hour. Morning rates are reduced due to
moonlight this week.

Antihelion (ANT)  06:00 (090) +23
Northern Hemisphere - 2   Southern Hemisphere - 1

Monocerotids (MON)  06:40 (100) +08
Northern Hemisphere - 2   Southern Hemisphere - 2

Geminids (GEM)  07:12 (108) +33
Northern Hemisphere - 10   Southern Hemisphere - 5

Puppid-Velids (PUP)  08:20 (125) -45
Northern Hemisphere - >1   Southern Hemisphere - 2

Hydrids (HYD)  08:24 (126) +02
Northern Hemisphere - 2   Southern Hemisphere - 2

Coma Berenicids (COM)  10:04 (151) +35
Northern Hemisphere - 2   Southern Hemisphere - >1

*For a detailed explanation on the different classes of meteor showers and
other astronomical terms, please visit:
http://www.amsmeteors.org/showers.html#X2006

Clear Skies!
Robert Lunsford
International Meteor Organization

Hello

The result of leonids 2006 is not done all peoble you have result???
Becausi in Quebec city is clody on the maxina night

Tanks

Philippe Moussette

December is the last month of strong activity as seen in the northern
hemisphere. During the first half of the month minor showers are active in
the constellations of Taurus (Antihelions), Monoceros (Monocerotids), Puppis
(Puppid-Velids), Hydra (Sigma Hydrids), and Leo (Coma Berenicids). Strong
sporadic rates continue during the morning hours as long as the moon is
below the horizon. Rates increase significantly with the arrival of the
Geminids during the second week of the month. From the southern hemisphere,
sporadic rates are increasing in strength toward a peak in January. Meteors
from the above minor showers are also well seen from south of the equator.
The Geminids also increase the southern activity, but not nearly to the
extent that is witnessed in the northern hemisphere.

This week the moon reaches its full phase on Tuesday December 5. At this
time the moon will be present in the sky during the entire night, spoiling
the view of meteor activity. This weekend the moon will set an hour or two
before dawn so there is a small window of opportunity to view under dark
skies. The estimated total hourly rates for evening observers this week is
near three for those north of the equator and two for observers south of the
equator. For morning observers the estimated total hourly rates should be
near twelve for northern observers and ten for those south of the equator.
These rates assume that you are watching from rural areas away from all
sources of light pollution. The actual rates will also depend on factors
such as personal light and motion perception, local weather conditions,
alertness and experience in watching meteor activity. Rates are reduced due
to intense moonlight this week.

The radiant positions listed below are exact for Saturday night/Sunday
morning December 2/3. These positions do not change greatly day to day so
the listed coordinates may be used during this entire period. Most star
atlases (available at science stores and planetariums) will provide maps
with grid lines of the celestial coordinates so that you may find out
exactly where these positions are located in the sky. A planisphere or
computer planetarium program is also useful in showing the sky at any time
of night on any date of the year. Activity from each radiant is best seen
when it is positioned highest in the sky, either due north or south along
the meridian, depending on your latitude. It must be remembered that meteor
activity is rarely seen at the radiant position. Rather they shoot outwards
from the radiant so it is best to center your field of view so that the
radiant lies at the edge and not the center. This method will allow you to
easily trace the path of each meteor back to the radiant (if it is a shower
member) or in another direction if it is a sporadic. Meteor activity is not
seen from radiants that are located below the horizon. The positions below
are listed in a west to east manner in order of right ascension (celestial
longitude). The positions listed first are located further west therefore
are accessible earlier in the night while those listed further down the list
rise later in the night.

These showers are expected to be active this week:

The Phoenicids (PHO) is a periodic shower that rarely produces activity. The
only impressive display produced by this shower occurred in 1956 when ZHR's
were near 100. Peak activity occurs on December 6. Little activity is
expected away from the peak night. The radiant is located at 01:08
(017) -53. This position lies in southeastern Phoenix some 5 degrees
northwest of the bright zero magnitude star Achernar (Alpha Eridani). These
meteors are best seen near 2100 (9pm) local standard time (LST) when the
radiant lies highest above the horizon in a dark sky. Due to the southerly
declination, this shower is not visible north of the Northern Tropical
areas. The deep Southern Hemisphere has the best chance of seeing any
activity. At 22 km/sec. the Phoenicids produce very slow meteors.

The Antihelion (ANT) radiant is now centered at 05:32 (083) +23. This area
of the sky lies in eastern Taurus, six degrees southeast of the second
magnitude star El Nath (Beta Tauri). This radiant is best placed near 0100
LST when it lies on the meridian and is highest in the sky. Rates at this
time should be near two per hour as seen from the northern hemisphere and
one per hour for observers located south of the equator. With an entry
velocity of 30 km/sec., the average Antihelion meteor would be of
medium-slow speed.

The Monocerotids (MON) are currently active from a radiant located at 06:16
(094) +08. This area of the sky is located in eastern Orion, four degrees
east of the 1st magnitude star Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis). These meteors are
best seen near 0100 local standard time when the radiant lies highest above
the horizon. The peak for the Monocerotids occurs on December 8 when the ZHR
reaches 3. This shower would be equally well seen from both hemispheres. At
42 km/sec. the Monocerotids produce meteors of average velocity.

The Puppid-Velids (PUP) is a vast complex of weak radiants located in the
constellations of Puppis and Vela. Visual plots and photographic studies
have revealed many radiants in this area during November and December. The
combined strength of these radiants can produce a ZHR of ten. Actual hourly
rates will be much less unless you happen to be observing from the deep
Southern Hemisphere. The center of this activity is currently located at
08:16 (124) -45. This position lies in western Vela, three degrees north of
the second magnitude star Gamma Velorum. These meteors are best seen near
0300 LST when the radiant lies highest above the horizon in a dark sky.
Observers located in the Southern Hemisphere have an advantage viewing this
shower as the radiant will rise higher into their sky allowing more activity
to be seen. At 40 km/sec. the Puppid-Velids produce meteors of average
velocity.

Sporadic rates have reached the late year plateau for observers located in
the northern hemisphere. One would expect to see perhaps eight random
meteors during the last hour before dawn from rural observing sites. During
the first dark hour after the end of evening twilight, perhaps three random
meteors can be seen per hour. Sporadic rates increase as the night
progresses so rates seen near midnight would be near six per hour. Sporadic
rates seen from the southern hemisphere have passed their annual minimum and
are rising again. One would expect to see approximately four random meteors
per hour during the last hour before dawn and two per hour during the first
dark hour after the end of evening twilight. Rates near midnight would be
near three per hour. Rates are reduced due to intense moonlight this week.

Phoenicids (PHO) 01:08 (017) -53
Northern Hemisphere - 0   Southern Hemisphere - >1

  Antihelion (ANT) - 05:32 (083) +23
Northern Hemisphere - 2   Southern Hemisphere - 1

Monocerotids (MON)  06:16 (094) +08
Northern Hemisphere - 1   Southern Hemisphere - 1

Puppid-Velids (PUP)  8:16 (124) -45
Northern Hemisphere - 1   Southern Hemisphere - 3

Clear Skies!
Robert Lunsford
International Meteor Organization

"The meteor lovers always looked for
total solar eclipses,
hoping to see an original fireball-
a nimble jewel greeting in a hurry
the solar diamond prominences."
-Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-

The Romanian Society for Meteor and
Astronomy-SARM invites you to see a special page,
Famous Meteor Lovers Look For A Total Solar Eclipse,
from a web site entitled Passports For A Heavenly
Expedition, which includes several IMO members and IMC

participants.
So please visit
http://www.cosmopoetry.ro/passport/index.htm



* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Valentin Grigore
President of SARM - Societatea Astronomica Romana de Meteori
   (Romanian Society for Meteors and Astronomy)
Calea Domneasca 214, bl.48, sc.A, ap.6
   Targoviste 130016, Dambovita, Romania
phone: +40 245 213851, +40 0722829034 (gsm)
e-mail: vali_sarm@..., vali.grigore@...
http://www.sarm.ro
http://www.geocities.com/valisarm
http://www.cosmopoetry.ro
***************************************************************
SARM is the national astronomical society of Romania
   and an youth organization
****************************************************************




________________________________________________________________________________\
____
Cheap talk?
Check out Yahoo! Messenger's low PC-to-Phone call rates.
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The latest set of observations for November received by the North
American Meteor Network have been added to our website. The current
totals include 19 observers:

Karl Antier, France
Ed Cannon, USA
Nadka Dankova, Bulgaria
Kenneth Drake, USA
Eric Flesher, USA
Robin Gray, USA
Roberto Haver, Italy
Bhargav Joshi, India
Javor Kac, Slovenia
Richard Kramer, USA
David Love, USA
Pierre Martin, Canada
Paul Martsching, USA
Koen Miskotte, Spain
Patrick O'Neill, Northern Ireland
David Stine, USA
Wes Stone, USA
Michel Vandeputte, Belgium & Spain
Kim Youmans, USA

reporting 104.89 hours of observations and 2,257 meteors:

METEOR SHOWER                   NUMBER OBSERVED
AMO: Alpha Monocerotids                34
LEO: Leonids                          939
NTA: Taurids, Northern                 79
ORI: Orionids                           5
STA: Taurids, Southern                 59
TAU: Taurids, combined radiants        43

SPO: Sporadics                       1098

To view the observing summaries, follow the Recent Meteor Observations link
at http://www.namnmeteors.org . If anyone sees any errors, please let me
know.

Clear skies, and thanks to all of the observers who submitted reports!!

Mark Davis, South Carolina, USA
meteors@...
namn@...

Hi to all Leonid 2006 observers,

Please find a couple of pictures of the short but very intense Leonids
2006 expedition to Baza, Andalucia, Spain of Robert Haas and me of the
web at:

http://s64.photobucket.com/albums/h168/casperterkuile/Spain_Baza_Leonids_19_nove\
mber_2006/


Some very nice videoresults of our expedition are published at Robert's
website at:

http://www.delpsurf.nl/

With very best wishes,

Casper and Robert.


--

Name:    Casper ter Kuile
Address: Akker 145
City:    De Bilt
Zip:     NL 3732 XD
Country: the Netherlands
Phone:   +31-30-2203170
Mobile1: +31-6-24242445
Mobile2: +31-6-47476208
E-mail:  casper.ter.kuile@...
MSN:     microsoof@...
Yahoo:   dmsweb2000@...

Results of the IMO Video Meteor Network - October 2006
======================================================

Before looking at the October results, I will give a brief addendum to
September. After entering the data of the remaining three cameras it became
clear, that we indeed managed to observe in more than 2000 hours. In the end
there were 8761 meteors recorded in 2005 hours effective observing time.

The exiting question is: How long will this record hold? Well, I can answer
that immediately:  Exactly one month, because the ususual sunny and warm
September was followed by an even more unusual sunny and warm October in most
parts of Europe. In the last week of October, we even had according to
meteorological defintion a summer day with more than 25 deg centigrade
in south Germany.
What did that mean for the observers: Many clear nights, of course, and
thanks to the longer nights and active meteor showers (combined with an
unusual strong Orionid maximum) a still bigger yield than in September.

Let's start again with the pure figures. For simplicity I will mark all records
with an exclamation mark in brackets. 15 observers with a total of 22 video
system joined the network in October - just as in September. At the best night,
(October 11), 18 cameras were active (!). An overall of nine cameras recorded
in 20 or more nights (!), an ten cameras yielded more than a hundred hours
effective observing time (!). Flavio Castellani even managed to collect 200
hours. Overall, in every fourth night we could collect more than 100 hours of
video observations (!), which is amazing given that the day has only 24
hours. :)

For the first time since the great Leonid storms, four cameras recorded a total
of more than 1000 meteors (!), among them for the first time a non-intensified
camera (Mincam1 with 1125 meteors!). Bob Lunsford observed the Orionid maximum
from a dark desert site and managed to record 550 meteors at the Orionid
maximum - far more than was ever observed in a single night after the Leonids
storms and the observations of Rob McNaught in the Australian outback. Even
three nights after the maximum, Sirko Molau managed to record another 400
meteors at October 24/25. In three October nights we recorded more than 1000
meteors (!).

After all this it is no wonder, that also the monthly totals dwarfed everything
we had before: With over 2100 observing hours, September was outnumbered by
more than a hundred hours, and the total of almost 14000 meteors is an increase
of almost 50% compared to the previously best result of October 2005.
It turns out, that by the end of October we collected already more observing
time and meteors in 2006 than in the best previous year 2003. The meteor
database is growing faster than ever and I am looking forward to the next run of
the automated meteor shower search.

But also away from the plain figures and well-known showers, October presented
two highlights. Most of you will remember the October-Camelopardalids from last
year: In the evening of October 5, 2005, Jarmo Moilanen detected a short
outburst of an previously unknown shower, that could be confirmed right
thereafter by our camera network.

In this year, Esko Lyytinen pointed out, that the OCA could be an annual
shower that might be active in the morning hours of October 6 again. His
prediction was based on the observation, that forward scatter radio data from
not only 2005 but also the years before showed an excess of overdense echoes
(i.e. of meteors with an especially strong signal).

Even though our Finish observers were almost completely clouded out in the
night in question, there were a number of camera stations with clear skies
thanks to the large extent of the IMO network. They could observe this shower
once more and confirm the prediction of Esko. The following table gives
the absolute number of sporadic meteors, October-Camelopardalids and other
shower meteors, and their counts normalized by the effective observing time:

Time Oct 5/6  Teff       SPO         OCA        other
     [UT]       [h]     [#] [#/h]   [#] [#/h]   [#] [#/h]
--------------------------------------------------------
20:00-21:00    2.67     3  1.13     0  0.00     0  0.00
21:00-22:00    5.62    12  2.14     6  1.07     3  0.53
22:00-23:00    6.47     9  1.39     2  0.31    10  1.55
23:00-00:00    6.50    19  2.92     1  0.15    15  2.31
00:00-01:00    7.70    25  3.25     8  1.04    32  4.16
01:00-02:00    7.40    42  5.68    12  1.62    18  2.43
02:00-03:00    7.00    54  7.71    11  1.57    18  2.57
03:00-04:00    6.00    51  8.50     5  0.83    30  5.00
04:00-05:00    1.53    12  7.83     0  0.00     3  1.96
--------------------------------------------------------
Sum           49.88   226          44         129

The October-Camelopardalids showed the same characteritics as in 2005:

- an extremely short duration of approx. 3 hours FHWH (full width at half
   maximum)
- almost exclusively bright meteors, such that the shower was much most
   prominent in the data of the non-intensified cameras
- the maximum virtually at the same solar longitude

Whereas at first only the main maximum at 1-3 UT became visible, the data from
other cameras send in later seem to confirm that there might have been
already an earlier peak in the 21-22 UT time frame.

Anyway, we can conclude with some certaintly, that the October-Camelopardalids
are an annual stream of extremely short duration, that consists almost
exclusively of large meteoroids. The archive of the IMO video network gives
only on more observing series at the solar longitude in question: On October
5/6, 2001, three cameras (AVIS, VK1, FAMOS) recorded all together 19 sporadics,
11 other shower members, and 3 OCAs.

A few days later, the next unknown shower visited us Earthlings. In
mid-October I was contacted by SonotaCo, the Japanese programmers of the
well-known UFOCapture software. He informed me, that S. Uehara, a member of
the Nippon Meteor Society, detected an outburst of an unknown shower with the
radiant in Ursa Major in the data of the Japanese SonotaCo Video Network.
From eight double station meteors between October 12 and 17, a first orbit
could be calculated leading to a radiant at alpha=146 deg, delta=65 deg and a
preatmospheric velocity of 53 km/s.

To answer his question, whether the shower is also present in our video data,
I first searched the list of meteor showers I presented at the last IMC, but
without success. Then I checked with more success the radiants in the
individual nights. The shower, that we later gave the preliminary name
tau-Ursa-Majorids (TUM), showed the third strongest radiant right after ORI and
STA in the solar longitude intervals 201 to 204 (next table). It only escaped
the meteor shower search becauce the radiant was found in five consecutive
solar longitude intervals, whereas the minimum duration in the shower search
was set to six.

Solar Longitude Right Ascension  Declination Velocity  Meteors
      [deg]         [deg]            [deg]     [km/s]     [#]
--------------------------------------------------------------
201 (200-202)      142.6             +64        50        81
202 (201-203)      143.7             +64        51       110
203 (202-204)      144.9             +64        51       113
204 (203-205)      147.3             +62.5      51        92
---------------------------------------------------------------

Up to 2005, more than 200 tau-Ursa-Majorids could already be recorded by the
IMO network (the figures above give a larger sum, because they were computed
with overlaping solar longitude intervals). The radiant positions agrees well
with the Japanese values and the velocity is slightly underestimated, just as
it was observed for other known showers. The radiant drift is well visible in
the data of the IMO network.

The automated meteor shower search found that the shower somewhat resembles the
Northern Toroidal sporadic source. However, since the radiant obtained by the
Japanese observers is quite compact, this occurs to me more like a by-chance
alignment.

In the end I checked, whether the tau-Ursa-Majorids were also found in the
2006 data of the IMO network. Indeed, more than 100 shower members could be
recorded between October 12 and 18. Maximum activity occured on October 15/16.
At the same time, the activity of the Orionids increased as expected, whereas
the Taurid activity remained almost constant and the epsilon-Geminids were also
slowly gaining strength (neglecting a peak on October 13/14).

The last table gives the absolute number of sporadics, shower meteors and
tau-Ursa-Majorids per night, and normalized by the number of sporadic meteors.

Date         SPO      ORI          TAU          EGE          TUM
2006         [#]    [#] ORI/SPO  [#] TAU/SPO  [#] EGE/SPO  [#] TUM/SPO
----------------------------------------------------------------------
12./13.10.   162     16   0.10    52   0.32   13   0.08     13   0.08
13./14.10.    37      8   0.22    12   0.32    9   0.24      2   0.05
14./15.10.   216     50   0.23    63   0.29   19   0.09     23   0.11
15./16.10.   263     75   0.29    81   0.31   34   0.13     40   0.15
16./17.10.   327    118   0.36   102   0.31   38   0.12     22   0.07
17./18.10.   278    136   0.49    89   0.32   31   0.11     20   0.07
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum         1084    379          335         122           105


1. Observers
============

Code    Name        Place           Camera         FOV    LM Nights Time Meteors
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BENOR Benitez-S.  Las Palmas    TIMES4 (1.5/50)   20 dg  3 mag  18   51.8 h   78
                                 TIMES5 (0.95/50)  10 dg  3 mag  17   54.2 h   76
CASFL Castellani  Monte Basso   BMH1 (0.8/6)      55 dg  3 mag  26  200.3 h  667
ELTMA Eltri       Venezia       MET38 (0.8/3.8)   80 dg  3 mag   7   67.1 h  255
EVAST Evans       Moreton       RF1 (0.8/12)      25 dg  5 mag  10   77.1 h  378
HINWO Hinz        Brannenburg   AKM2 (0.85/25)    32 dg  5 mag  20  160.1 h 1660
KACJA Kac         Kostanjevec   METKA (0.8/8)     55 dg  3 mag  25  143.3 h  418
                   Kamnik        REZIKA (0.8/6)    55 dg  3 mag  17  103.1 h  705
LUNRO Lunsford    Chula Vista   BOCAM (1.4/50)    60 dg  6 mag  15   97.7 h 1901
MOLSI Molau       Seysdorf      AVIS2 (1.4/50)    60 dg  6 mag  20  143.8 h 2872
                                 MINCAM1 (0.8/6)   55 dg  3 mag  28  192.9 h 1125
                   Ketzuer       REMO1 (3.8/0.8)   80 dg  3 mag  26  132.2 h  647
SLAST Slavec      Ljubljana     KAYAK1 (1.8/28)   50 dg  4 mag  24  129.4 h  441
SPEUL Sperberg    Salzwedel     AKM1 (0.85/2)     32 dg  5 mag   2    6.2 h   17
STOEN Stomeo      Scorze        MIN38 (0.8/3.8)   80 dg  3 mag   8   67.7 h  384
STORO Stork       Ondrejov      OND1 (1.4/50)     55 dg  6 mag   3   20.1 h  499
STRJO Strunk      Leopoldshoehe MINCAM2 (0.8/6)   55 dg  3 mag  24  117.0 h  407
                                 MINCAM3 (0.8/8)   42 dg  4 mag   4   30.8 h   48
                                 MINCAM4 (1.4/2)  180 dg  0 mag  17   79.1 h   50
                                 MINCAM5 (0.8/6)   55 dg  3 mag   7   45.8 h  309
TRIMI Triglav     Velenje       SRAKA (0.8/6)     55 dg  3 mag  21  153.7 h  679
YRJIL Yrjola      Kuusankoski   FINEXCAM (0.8/6)  55 dg  3 mag  11   43.4 h  333
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum                                                             31 2116.6h 13949


2. Observing Times (h)
======================

Oct    01   02   03   04   05   06   07   08   09   10   11   12   13   14   15
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BENOR  3.0  4.2   -    -    -    -    -    -   0.3   -    -   0.4  0.8  0.4  2.4
        1.8   -    -    -    -    -    -    -   2.1   -    -   2.2  0.5   -   4.5
CASFL   -   0.5  1.5  9.4  9.4  5.2 10.7  9.5  9.5  9.5  9.5  9.5  8.5  2.0 11.0
ELTRI   -    -    -    -    -   6.3   -    -   9.9  9.9 10.1 10.1   -    -  10.4
EVAST   -   8.2  7.8  6.2   -   4.1   -    -    -    -   8.3   -   4.3   -    -
HINWO   -    -    -    -    -   0.8   -  10.4  8.8 10.6  6.6  7.5   -   0.8  7.4
KACJA  2.0  2.7   -    -   6.1  5.2  1.2  4.2  4.9  7.5  5.2  4.2   -   1.9  5.6
         -    -    -    -   6.8   -    -   5.4 10.7 10.1  2.2  7.7   -   6.5  3.9
LUNRO  5.3   -  10.1  4.0   -   1.7  4.7  8.4   -   6.8  2.2 10.7   -    -    -
MOLSI   -    -    -    -   7.2  3.1  4.7  8.5 10.0 10.4  7.4  2.3   -  11.0 10.1
        0.5  6.5   -   0.6 12.1  3.4  6.2 11.3 11.4  1.4  7.0  3.5   -  11.6  9.4
        6.4  0.3  0.2  3.3  5.4   -   4.6  8.1  8.1 11.1  6.4   -    -    -   2.2
SLAST  3.5  1.4   -    -   3.0  2.0  1.3  4.8  1.8  1.0  1.2   -    -   4.0  9.0
SPEUL   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
STOEN   -    -    -    -    -   6.9   -   7.6   -  10.5 10.5 10.4  3.8   -    -
STORO   -    -    -    -   3.8   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
STRJO  0.9  0.7   -   1.9   -    -   8.3 10.5  0.6 10.8  8.3   -    -    -   6.8
         -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -   8.3   -    -    -    -
         -    -    -    -    -    -   0.9  6.7   -   7.5  6.4   -    -    -   1.1
         -    -    -    -    -    -   0.9  6.8   -   7.5  6.4   -    -    -    -
TRIMI  4.8   -    -    -   8.1   -    -    -    -   6.5  8.1  6.9  0.2  7.6  8.7
YRJIL   -    -    -    -   1.2  3.3   -   0.4   -    -   0.7  6.1  2.8  3.7   -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum   28.2 24.5 19.6 25.4 63.1 42.0 43.5102.6 78.1121.1114.8 81.5 20.9 49.5 92.5

Oct    16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30
31
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
BENOR  4.1   -   3.4  3.6  5.7  5.9  4.1  4.9  4.0   -   0.3   -    -   1.7
.6   -
        4.8  2.1  5.4  2.1   -   4.4  3.6  5.5  4.6   -   0.7  1.6   -   4.7
.6   -
CASFL  5.0  1.0  5.0   -    -   9.2  2.5   -  10.0 11.0 11.0  6.9 11.0 11.0
.0   -
ELTRI   -
.4   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
EVAST   -    -    -    -    -   8.8   -    -   8.4   -  11.5   -    -    -    -
10.1
HINWO 11.0 11.0  7.5  2.6 11.1 10.2 10.2   -  10.4  9.2 11.4  1.4   -    -
1.2   -
KACJA   -   8.8  9.8  4.4  9.1  7.6  6.9  0.5   -   8.4  8.5  7.6  5.2  7.6
.2   -
        8.2 10.5  0.5  1.9   -    -   4.8   -   5.6   -  11.4  5.3   -
.6   -    -
LUNRO   -    -    -   7.9  5.8  5.8  5.9  9.5
9   -    -    -    -    -    -    -
MOLSI  6.7  7.5  4.4  2.9  7.8  8.2  7.6   -   8.1  8.0
9   -    -    -    -    -
       11.7  5.0  3.7  3.0  8.8  7.1  4.1  0.5 12.2 10.2 12.3  8.8   -   6.7 11.8
2.1
        6.6 11.6  8.2  6.3  3.0  9.2  2.1  2.5  3.9  8.1  8.2  1.7  0.4  0.7   -
3.6
SLAST 10.2  9.0 10.3  3.5   -   7.5  7.5   -   4.9  9.0 11.3  8.2  3.5  8.5
.0   -
SPEUL   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -   4.0
2   -    -    -    -    -
STOEN   -  10.4   -    -    -
.6   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
STORO   -    -    -   4.5  8.4   -
.4   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
STRJO 11.1 11.2  3.0  4.5  2.2  3.7  0.8  1.0  2.0  6.4  7.1  4.8   -   0.7  3.7
6.0
       10.3 10.9   -    -    -    -    -    -    -
.5   -    -    -    -    -    -
       11.1 11.2  2.6   -   1.6  5.2   -   1.2  2.0  5.0  5.1  5.3   -    -   2.0
4.2
       10.9 11.2
1   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
TRIMI  9.3  6.6  9.4  6.4  5.9  6.9  9.2   -    -   8.0  9.4  7.3  7.0  9.1
.3   -
YRJIL   -    -   3.8   -    -    -    -    -    -   4.2   -    -    -  11.2
.0   -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
Sum  121.0138.4 79.1 53.6 69.4107.3 72.7 25.6 85.0 92.0118.3 58.9 27.1 63.5 71.4
26.0


3. Results (Meteors)
====================

Sep    01   02   03   04   05   06   07   08   09   10   11   12   13   14   15
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CASFL  25    6   24   33   21    5    -   10   34   18   15   20    7    -    -
ELTRI  41    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -   28    -    -
EVAST   -    -   15    -    -    -   35   37    -   25    -    -    -    -    -
HINWO  44    -    -    -    -    -    -   40   77   29   46   41   77    -    -
KACJA  12   11   13    8    4    5    6   12   16    1   10    8    8    -    -
        45    -   46    2   25    3    -    -   41    -   30   19   39    -    -
KOSDE   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
LUNRO 150   74   39   35   13   10    7    2    -   24   38   42   27    -    -
MOLSI  91    -    6   47  115    -    -   80  116   45    -    -    -    -    -
        18    2    7   24   50   28    3   35   52   10   35   29   33   17    8
SLAST   -    5   19   26   13    1    -    5    9    3    4   11    -    -    -
SPEUL   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -   12    -
STOEN  24   13    -    -   12    -    -    -    -    2    -   26   21    -    -
STRJO   5    -    2   22    1   17   12   21   26    9   24   19   19   18    1
         -    -    -   24    -   10    3   28   32   19   23   30   39   33    -
         -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    4    8    -
         -    -    3   49    -   23    1   58   52   35   50   45   44    -    -
TRIMI  32   26   33   22    3    3    4   11   24   25   17   20   18    2    -
YRJIL  32    1    2    -    -   40    -    -    -   44   16   30   35   61   76
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum   519  138  209  292  257  145   71  339  479  289  308  340  399  151   85

Sep    16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CASFL   -    -    -    -    -    -    -   28    -    -    7    9    -    -    -
ELTRI   -    -    -    -    -    -    -   36    -    -    -   38    -    -    -
EVAST   -    -    -   29   41    -   25    -    8    9    -    -    -   38    -
HINWO   -    -    -    -   73    -   63   82   23    -    -    -   68    9    -
KACJA   -    -    -    -   14    4    4    5   14   12    -    4    7   13    9
         -    -    -   10   10   25   42    -   31   16    -    2   40   45    -
KOSDE   -    -    -    -    -   52    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
LUNRO   -   39  100   69    9    4    4    -   88    -    -    -   58    -   23
MOLSI   -   44    -    -  141  165  211  254   85   18    -   16   52   69    3
        16    6    -    1   14   30   30   38    8    4    -    2    3   10    -
SLAST   -    -    -    1   11    -    -   15    7    1   24    5    6    5    1
SPEUL   -    -    -    -    -   21    -    -   28    -    -    -    -    -    -
STOEN   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -   32   33    -    -    -
STRJO  12    1    -   14   17   25   24   14   29    -    2   12   16    6   28
        30    -    -    3   40   40   24   22   38    -    -    -    -    -    -
         5    -    -    -    5    3    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
         -    -    -    -    -    -    -   48   71    -    -    -    -    -   48
TRIMI   -    -    -    1   20   11    3   17   24   13   23   14   26   28    9
YRJIL  65   40   12    -   77    -   42   68    -   16   13    2    -    -    -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum   128  130  112  128  472  380  472  627  454   89  101  137  276  223  121

Oct    01   02   03   04   05   06   07   08   09   10   11   12   13   14   15
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BENOR   6    7    -    -    -    -    -    -    1    -    -    1    1    1    5
         3    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    3    -    -    3    1    -    6
CASFL   -    1    6   18   21    8   27   25   26   30   30   29   30    8   52
ELTRI   -    -    -    -    -    7    -    -   39   46   27   34    -    -   57
EVAST   -   29   36   12    -   27    -    -    -    -   32    -    7    -    -
HINWO   -    -    -    -    -    1    -   38   58   94   49   49    -    1   43
KACJA   8    3    -    -   13   14    1   14   14   14    7    4    -    3    7
         -    -    -    -   47    -    -   31   53   47    6   21    -   30   19
LUNRO  13    -   61   10    -    4   12   19    -   10    5   55    -    -    -
MOLSI   -    -    -    -   88   26   27   61  101  101   43   19    -  203  224
         1   11    -    5   49   13   33   31   35   44   11    5    -   46   48
        14    1    1   10   18    -   24   34   30   50   28    -    -    -   17
SLAST   2    1    -    -    2    1    2    4    3    1    1    -    -   21   35
SPEUL   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
STOEN   -    -    -    -    -   15    -   26    -   68   53   41   19    -    -
STORO   -    -    -    -  120    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
STRJO   3    4    -    7    -    -   22   23    3   20   22    -    -    -   29
         -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
         -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    4    -    -    -    -
         -    -    -    -    -    -    2   51    -   45   31    -    -    -    2
TRIMI   5    -    -    -   16    -    -    -    -   12   19   15    2   19   23
YRJIL   -    -    -    -    4   17    -    4    -    -    2   30   10   42    -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum    55   57  104   62  378  133  150  361  366  582  370  306   70  374  567

Oct    16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30
31
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
BENOR   7    -    4    3   11    1   10    9    5    -    1    -    -    2
3    -
         7    5    6    4    -    5    5    7    7    -    1    2    -    7
4    -
CASFL   7    3    8    -    -   67    2    -   58   59   34   32   34   19
3    -
ELTRI   -
5    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
EVAST   -    -    -    -    -  110    -    -   27    -   54    -    -    -    -
44
HINWO 100  164   85    3  190  139   77    -  207   62  149   16    -    -
5    -
KACJA   -   20   21    8   65   57   33    3    -   31   24   12    7   17
8    -
        79  117    2    6    -    -   23    -   94    -  102   18    -
0    -    -
LUNRO   -    -    -   68  377  561  444  150
2    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
MOLSI 299  151  118  100  169  198   88    -  402  224
0    -    -    -    -    -
        75   29   25   31   78   75   23    1  153   62   88   61    -   17   60
15
        28   57   47   26   12   72   12   14   34   45   30   16    1    2    -
24
SLAST  51   40   53    3    -   49   20    -    7   28   56   14    9   25
3    -
SPEUL   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    7
0    -    -    -    -    -
STOEN   -   69    -    -    -
3    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
STORO   -    -    -   66  233    -
0    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
STRJO  41   22   14   12    9   32    3    4   12   39   21   31    -    3   10
21
        33   14    -    -    -    -    -    -
1    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
         6    1    2    -    6   14    -    1    1    1    1    9    -    -    2
2
       119   55
4    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
TRIMI  42   18   24   24   91  123   58    -    -   33   44   23   15   43
0    -
YRJIL   -    -   30    -    -    -    -    -    -   61    -    -    -   85
8    -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
Sum   894  810  443  354 1241 1596  878  189 1120  652  845  234   66  230  356
106

--
************************************************************
*   Sirko Molau                 *                          *
*   Abenstalstr. 13b            *              __          *
*   D-84072 Seysdorf            *       " 2B v 2B "        *
*   Germany                     *                          *
*   phone: +49-8752-869438      *             Shakespeare  *
*   email: sirko@...       *                          *
*   www  : www.molau.de         *                          *
************************************************************

This is a brief report on the Leonid observation by the CSP team consisting of
17 members during 17th-19th from the  hill station (close to
the coast in Orissa (India).

Around 8.00pm, 17th Nov. local time (2.30UT) we already started spotted
bollides and by 1am of the 18th (18.30pm UT of the 17th) we saw  15,
out of which at least 3 were sporadics.

We again saw it at 4.30am local time (18th, i.e., 23pm 17th UT) for about
half an hour and saw 6 with one bollide coming from south to north at
25 degree above the horizon, very bright head.

On the 19th early morning we saw 20 in one hour duration
(3.45am to 4.45am local time, 10.15 to 11.15pm of the 18th UT).
The sun rise took place and we missed the peak by a long margin
(5.30 hours).

As a whole it was very good, though the number of bollides were
LESS.

Sandip Chakrabarti

--
Open WebMail Project (http://openwebmail.org)

Hi from Haute Provence Observatory

     We observe leonids here from 2006 11 18, 23h UT to 2006 11 19, 5h15
UT,
faints meteors with an outburst arround 4h50 UT. We had here two
intensified camera with a field of 60 degrees and a Watec 902H with
90 degrees field. Just by eye, without really precision, we think
that the outburts had a ZHR of more the 100, perhaps 150, but it was
very short with a FWHM of 15min. Just a primary impression. We have
to reduce the 18h of video...

Francois Colas

I observed again for about 6 hours this morning beginning a little after
2200 hours local time. We actually got to the site at 1800 hours and set up
4 telescopes for a couple hours of cluster hunting. During this time we were
rewarded with a couple minus magnitude sporadics. Switching over to meteor
observing did little to increase our rates. The Leonids were steady all
through the night, but only produced a handful per hour. Highest rate was 6.
Average magnitude was about normal. I recorded no AMOs. The Taurids were
noticeably present, producing a couple per hour from each radiant. The
weather was clear all night, but we were taken a bit by surprise on how far
the temperature dropped. By morning we had a thin layer of ice on some of
our equipment and were uncomfortably cold. But overall it was an enjoyable
night!

Mark Davis
South Carolina, USA

Folks,

Carina and me managed to find a small hill near Landshut with clear skies and
almost free of fog. If you were not lucky - don't worry. You did not miss a
spectacular display (at least until 5 UT):

    Period     t_eff  lm     LEO SPO
     [UT]       [h]  [mag]
-----------------------------------
04:03-04:12   0.15   5.3     2   2
04:12-04:22   0.17   5.8     3   0
04:22-04:32   0.17   5.8     6   1
04:32-04:42   0.17   5.8     5   3
04:42-04:55   0.22   5.7     5   2
-----------------------------------
04:03-04:55   0.87          21   8

Shower  -6  -5  -4  -3  -2  -1   0  +1  +2  +3  +4  +5  Sum
-----------------------------------------------------------
LEO      0   0   0   0   0   0   0   1   6   7   7   0   21
SPO      0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   2   4   2   0    8
-----------------------------------------------------------

Have a nice sunday,
Sirko

--
************************************************************
*   Sirko Molau                 *                          *
*   Abenstalstr. 13b            *              __          *
*   D-84072 Seysdorf            *       " 2B v 2B "        *
*   Germany                     *                          *
*   phone: +49-8752-869438      *             Shakespeare  *
*   email: sirko@...       *                          *
*   www  : www.molau.de         *                          *
************************************************************

Last September several people enjoyed the 25th IMC. At this occasion
Casper ter Kuile, Hans Georg Schmidt and I presented a short overview
of the 24 previous editions.

As time goes by, memories fade and many details, views and beautiful
souvenirs are lost. Lost, unless we look back into old photo albums.
However, some people got no photographs at all or just a few. Despite
the fact that we see at each IMC so many participants photographing,
very little is seen of these photographs afterwards. Indeed, it was
too expensive to make many prints to give away. After many years,
some participants quit meteor work and can't be asked for their
pictures anymore. In recent years several individual photo galleries
were linked on the IMO webpages, but most of these disappear without
notice after some years.

At the IMC in Roden we decided to document all 25 IMC editions on the
IMO website. For each IMC we will add a photo gallery to show the
people, the accomodation, the region, the sightseeing of the
excursion and hopefully something of the typical legendary magic IMC-
atmosphere, with other words the aspects that are not in the
proceedings.

Casper ter Kuile prepared a DVD with all his photographs, Axel Haas
promptly sent me hundreds of slides of several IMCs. Carl Johannink
sent a collection of photo's for the 1983 edition. For the most
recent IMCs also Urijan Poerink, Jos Nijland, Rainer Arlt, Adriana
Nicolae, Jean-Marc Wislez and Jérémie Vaubaillon made pictures
available. I have bought a Nikon slide scanner for the hundreds of
slides and negatives to be scanned.

For some IMCs we can really cover the event from start till finish,
but for most IMCs so far we have too few photographs.

Do you have photographs made during IMCs or do you know someone who
has such pictures, but who quit meteor work meanwhile ? You can help !

If you have digital images, tell us if we can download these, or send
us pictures by mail or on CD. The pictures on the IMO website will be
72dpi, but we strongly encourage to provide us with the high
resolution originals (backups for long term use on futur systems)!

If you have prints, try to scan these in the best possible quality.

Photographs are selected in order to have a good coverage of each
IMC. Each selected photograph gets a caption with a description of
who and what is seen on the picture as well as the name of the
photographer.

Don't let your old pictures without use: take a look in your archive
and help with your photos to complete a digital photo archive of all
the past IMCs.

Looking forward to hear from the many photographers we always see at
the IMCs,

Kindest regards,

Paul Roggemans

I got a little less than 6 hours observing in beginning at 2241 local and
running all the way to sunrise. Early on some clouds were moving through,
but after a half hour or so, it was clear the remainder of the morning. I
was worried about fog developing as it often does along the coast this time
of year but that never became a problem.

I saw a handful of AMOs and a smattering of Taurids - about an equal number
from both radiants. LEOs were about average, in both brightness and number -
never over 10/hr. as far as I can remember. I stared early to get some
really nice ones coming up from the horizon, but did not see a single one.
Instead, I got to watch an owl fly overhead back and forth between a patch
of trees and the salt marsh. Seems a fair trade-off to me....

I'll be out again tonight, so updates to the website will be slow in
coming....

Clear skies to all,

Mark

Hi meteor fans,

I am glad to announce that a dynamic Leonid ZHR graph is available at
http://www.imo.net/live/leonids2006.html .

The graph is updated every minute based on the visual observations
submitted through the form at http://www.imo.net/visual/report .

Note: this is an experiment that started wednesday after a suggestion
by Rainer Arlt. It may break down or contain bugs. Nevertheless it
should be a nice demonstration of a feature that we hope will motivate
observers in the future.

Do not use the automated graph for scientific purposes.

Any help or feedback is well appreciated!

Geert


PS: Don't tell my boss I worked on this.

Meteor rates continue to be strong as seen from the northern hemisphere. The
antihelion radiant has merged with the two Taurid radiants producing slow
meteors that are visible during the evening and early morning hours. Swift
meteors from the Leonid radiant can be seen during the morning hours for two
weeks centered at mid-month. Strong sporadic rates continue during the
morning hours as long as the moon is below the horizon. From the southern
hemisphere, sporadic rates are increasing in strength toward a peak in
January. Meteors from the Leonid and Taurid radiants also help to fill the
southern skies with more activity. A new moon during the peak of the Leonid
shower will help provide observers with dark skies.

This week the moon reaches its new phase on Monday November 20. At this time
the moon will lie close to the sun in the sky and will not be visible at
night. This will be the best time of the month to view meteor activity. The
estimated total hourly rates for evening observers this week is near five
for those north of the equator and three for observers south of the equator.
For morning observers the estimated total hourly rates should be near twenty
five for northern observers and fifteen for those south of the equator.
These rates assume that you are watching from rural areas away from all
sources of light pollution. The actual rates will also depend on factors
such as personal light and motion perception, local weather conditions,
alertness and experience in watching meteor activity.

The radiant positions listed below are exact for Saturday night/Sunday
morning November 18/19. These positions do not change greatly day to day so
the listed coordinates may be used during this entire period. Most star
atlases (available at science stores and planetariums) will provide maps
with grid lines of the celestial coordinates so that you may find out
exactly where these positions are located in the sky. A planisphere or
computer planetarium program is also useful in showing the sky at any time
of night on any date of the year. Activity from each radiant is best seen
when it is positioned highest in the sky, either due north or south along
the meridian, depending on your latitude. It must be remembered that meteor
activity is rarely seen at the radiant position. Rather they shoot outwards
from the radiant so it is best to center your field of view so that the
radiant lies at the edge and not the center. Doing this will allow you to
easily trace the path of each meteor back to the radiant (if it is a shower
member) or in another direction if it is a sporadic. Meteor activity is not
seen from radiants that are located below the horizon. The positions below
are listed in a west to east manner in order of right ascension (celestial
longitude). The positions listed first are located further west therefore
are accessible earlier in the night while those listed further down the list
rise later in the night.

These showers are expected to be active this week:

At this time of year debris from comet 2P/Encke produces a double radiant
very close to the position of the antihelion radiant. From now through the
end of November, it is impossible to resolve the antihelion meteors from
those produced by comet 2P/Encke. Therefore we suggest that observers simply
classify meteors from this area as either north or south Taurids.

The Northern Taurid (NTA) radiant is now centered at 04:20 (065) +24. This
position lies in northern Taurus, eight degrees east of the Pleiades star
cluster. The Southern Taurid (STA) radiant lies at 04:16 (064) +16. This
position lies in central Taurus, four degrees west of the first magnitude
star Aldebaran (Alpha Tauri). The two radiants are separated by eight
degrees. Since they have the same right ascension (celestial longitude), it
is difficult to distinguish meteors that move north or south out of the
radiants. It is slightly less difficult to distinguish those meteors
traveling east or west.

These radiants are above the horizon most of the night and are best placed
near midnight LST, when they lie on the meridian and are located highest in
the sky. Rates at this time should be near two per hour for the southern
radiant and three per hour for the northern radiant, regardless of your
location. With an entry velocity near 30 km/sec., the average Taurid meteor
would be of medium-slow speed.

Sirko Molau's study of video radiants has revealed activity during the
period November 17-December 5, from an area in northeastern Orion. Maximum
activity occurs on November 28 with the radiant located at 06:04 (091) +15.
This position lies one degree northwest of the fourth magnitude star Nu
Orionis. This radiant is best placed on the meridian near 0200 LST. It
appears that twelve percent of the total activity for the 28th is related to
this radiant. At 44km/sec., the average meteor from this radiant would be of
medium velocity. This activity has parameters quite similar to the
Monocertoids, but is a different shower as the video study also verified the
Monocerotids with its later activity period and more southerly radiant.

The Alpha Monocerotids (AMO) reach maximum activity on November 21 with
normally low rates of one or two shower members per hour. This shower has
produced outbursts in the past but none are expected for many years to come.
The radiant is located at 07:44 (116) +01. This position lies in
southeastern Canis Minor, three degrees southeast of the zero magnitude star
Procyon (Alpha Canis Minoris). These meteors are best seen near 0300 LST
when the radiant lies highest above the horizon in a dark sky. At 65 km/sec.
the Alpha Monocerotids produce mostly swift meteors.

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.

Sporadic rates have reached the late year plateau for observers located in
the northern hemisphere. One would expect to see perhaps sixteen random
meteors during the last hour before dawn from rural observing sites. During
the first dark hour after the end of evening twilight, perhaps four random
meteors can be seen per hour. Sporadic rates increase as the night
progresses so rates seen near midnight would be near ten per hour. Sporadic
rates seen from the southern hemisphere have passed their annual minimum and
are rising again. One would expect to see approximately six random meteors
per hour during the last hour before dawn and two per hour during the first
dark hour after the end of evening twilight. Rates near midnight would be
near four per hour.

Northern Taurid (NTA)  04:20 (065) +24
Northern Hemisphere - 3   Southern Hemisphere - 3

Southern Taurid (STA)  04:16 (064) +16
Northern Hemisphere - 2   Southern Hemisphere - 2

Nu Orionids (NOR)  06:04 (091) +15
Northern Hemisphere - 2   Southern Hemisphere - 2

Alpha Monocerotids (AMO)  07:44 (116) +01
Northern Hemisphere - 1   Southern Hemisphere - 1

Leonids (LEO)  10:12 (153) +22
Northern Hemisphere - 15   Southern Hemisphere - 10

Clear Skies!
Robert Lunsford
International Meteor Organization

WGN - Journal of the International Meteor Organization

The new issue of this Journal is now in press and will be posted in about a
week. The Editor appologises for the delay producing in this October issue.


The Journal contents are below.

Editorial - a rose by any other name would smell as sweet?
   Chris Trayner .................................................... 125

IMC 2007 and Meteoroids 2007
   The IMO Council .................................................. 126

From the IMO Council
   Juergen Rendtel and Marc Gyssens ................................. 126

The I.A.U. meteor shower nomenclature rules
   Peter Jenniskens ................................................. 127

Proceedings of the International Meteor Conference, Oostmalle,
Belgium, 2005
    ................................................................. 129

The Taranaki daylight fireball, 1999 July 7
   Jennie McCormick ................................................. 135

Meteor Beliefs Project: an introduction to the Hallowe'en Special
   Alastair McBeath ................................................. 143

Meteor Beliefs Project: Birth and death superstitions associated
with meteors in Romanian and British folklore
   Andrei Dorian Gheorghe, Roy Watson and Alastair McBeath .......... 146

Meteor Beliefs Project: Classical beliefs connecting meteors
with life and death
   Alastair McBeath and Andrei Dorian Gheorghe ...................... 148

Meteor Beliefs Project: Notes from Coleridge and Dore
   Alastair McBeath ................................................. 151


Those who do not subscribe to this Journal, but wish to, should see the IMO's
web site
http://www.imo.net
and follow the link to WGN. As well as subscribing to WGN, you can apply to join
IMO at the same time. We encourage you to do this.

Chris Trayner
Editor

Meteor rates continue to be strong as seen from the northern hemisphere. The
antihelion radiant has merged with the two Taurid radiants producing slow
meteors that are visible during the evening and early morning hours. Swift
meteors from the Leonid radiant can be seen during the morning hours for two
weeks centered at mid-month. Strong sporadic rates continue during the
morning hours as long as the moon is below the horizon. From the southern
hemisphere, sporadic rates are increasing in strength toward a peak in
January. Meteors from the Leonid and Taurid radiants also help to fill the
southern skies with more activity. A new moon during the peak of the Leonid
shower will help provide observers with dark skies.

This week the moon reaches its last quarter phase on Sunday November 12. At
this time the moon will rise near midnight local standard time (LST) and
will hinder observing during the busy morning hours. This condition can be
overcome by facing away from the moon so that its glare does not ruin your
dark adapted eyes. The estimated total hourly rates for evening observers
this week is near five for those north of the equator and two for observers
south of the equator. For morning observers the estimated total hourly rates
should be near twenty for northern observers and ten for those south of the
equator. These rates assume that you are watching from rural areas away from
all sources of light pollution. The actual rates will also depend on factors
such as personal light and motion perception, local weather conditions,
alertness and experience in watching meteor activity. Morning rates are
reduced due to moonlight.

The radiant positions listed below are exact for Saturday night/Sunday
morning November 11/12. These positions do not change greatly day to day so
the listed coordinates may be used during this entire period. Most star
atlases (available at science stores and planetariums) will provide maps
with grid lines of the celestial coordinates so that you may find out
exactly where these positions are located in the sky. A planisphere or
computer planetarium program is also useful in showing the sky at any time
of night on any date of the year. Activity from each radiant is best seen
when it is positioned highest in the sky, either due north or south along
the meridian, depending on your latitude. It must be remembered that meteor
activity is rarely seen at the radiant position. Rather they shoot outwards
from the radiant so it is best to center your field of view so that the
radiant lies at the edge and not the center. Doing this will allow you to
easily trace the path of each meteor back to the radiant (if it is a shower
member) or in another direction if it is a sporadic. Meteor activity is not
seen from radiants that are located below the horizon. The positions below
are listed in a west to east manner in order of right ascension (celestial
longitude). The positions listed first are located further west therefore
are accessible earlier in the night while those listed further down the list
rise later in the night.

These showers are expected to be active this week:

Sirko Molau's study of video radiants has revealed activity during the
period November 8-15, from an area near where the borders of Pisces, Aries,
and Triangulum meet. Maximum occurs on November 9 with the radiant located
at 01:38 (025) +27. This position lies in northeastern Pisces, four degrees
southwest of the third magnitude star Alpha Triangulum. This radiant is best
placed on the meridian near 2200 (10:00pm) LST. It appears that six percent
of the total activity for the night is related to this radiant. At only
20km/sec., the average meteor from this radiant would be slow moving.

At this time of year debris from comet 2P/Encke produces a double radiant
very close to the position of the antihelion radiant. From now through the
end of November, it is impossible to resolve the antihelion meteors from
those produced by comet 2P/Encke. Therefore we suggest that observers simply
classify meteors from this area as either north or south Taurids.

The Northern Taurid (NTA) radiant is now centered at 03:52 (058) +22. This
position lies in western Taurus, just two degrees southeast of the Pleiades
star cluster. The Southern Taurid (STA) radiant lies at 03:52 (058) +15.
This position lies in western Taurus, seven degrees southeast of the
Pleiades star cluster. The two radiants are separated by slightly over five
degrees. Since they have the same right ascension (celestial longitude), it
is difficult to distinguish meteors that move north or south out of the
radiants. It is slightly less difficult to distinguish those meteors
traveling east or west.

These radiants are above the horizon most of the night and are best placed
near midnight LST, when they lie on the meridian and are located highest in
the sky. Rates at this time should be near two per hour for the southern
radiant and three per hour for the northern radiant, regardless of your
location. With an entry velocity near 30 km/sec., the average Taurid meteor
would be of medium-slow speed.

The Leonids (LEO) reach a ZHR of one on the 10th and rates slowly rise as
the week progresses. The radiant is located at 09:52 (148) +24. This
position lies in northwestern Leo, just east of the third magnitude star
Epsilon 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.

Sporadic rates have reached the late year plateau for observers located in
the northern hemisphere. One would expect to see perhaps twelve random
meteors during the last hour before dawn from rural observing sites. During
the first dark hour after the end of evening twilight, perhaps four random
meteors can be seen per hour. Sporadic rates increase as the night
progresses so rates seen near midnight would be near eight per hour.
Sporadic rates seen from the southern hemisphere have passed their annual
minimum and are rising again. One would expect to see approximately five
random meteors per hour during the last hour before dawn and two per hour
during the first dark hour after the end of evening twilight. Rates near
midnight would be near four per hour. Sporadic rates seen during the morning
hours are reduced this week due to moonlight.

Phi Piscids (PPI)  01:38 (025) +27
Northern Hemisphere - 1   Southern Hemisphere - >1

Northern Taurid (NTA) 03:04 (046) +20
Northern Hemisphere - 3   Southern Hemisphere - 3

Southern Taurid (STA)  03:04 (046) +14
Northern Hemisphere - 2   Southern Hemisphere - 2

Leonids (LEO)  09:52 (148) +24
Northern Hemisphere - 1   Southern Hemisphere - >1

Clear Skies!
Robert Lunsford
International Meteor Organization

Dear IMO members,

Normally, at the end of an International Meteor Conference (IMC)
the date and location of the next year's IMC is announced. In 2007
we have the peculiar situation that the "Meteoroids 2007" conference
is held in Barcelona in June. Combinations of an IMC with previous
"Meteoroids" conferences (e.g. in Smolenice and Stara Lesna) helped
to establish and improve good contacts between amateur and
professional meteor workers. Hence we discussed the possibility
to combine the IMC 2007 with the "Meteoroids 2007" during the
IMC in the Netherlands. A query yielded that approximately 2/3
of the IMC 2006 participants would attend an IMC in June 2007
if it allows to attend also the "Meteoroids 2007". Another query
via the imo news list gave essentially the same result. Of course,
it is hardly possible to find an optimal solution for all members.
Members of the IMO Council know that June is not the best month
for many people to travel. On the other hand, there may be also
people who never attended an IMC because they have problems to
travel in September. Furthermore, we had in mind that some
observers may plan to travel to observe the expected alpha-Aurigid
outburst on Sep 01 from North America - then perhaps interfering
with another travel to attend the IMC shortly after this event.

By choosing the period in June for the IMC 2007 we want to
emphasize the possibilities for interaction between the amateur
and professional communities. The IMO Council hopes that many
people from both "sides" use this opportunity to learn more
about running projects and recent results.

The IMC 2007 will take place in Bareges, north of the Pyrenees
close to the Pic du Midi observatory in the time 2007 June 7-10.
The "Meteoroids 2007" takes place in Barcelona in the period
2007 June 11-15. Information will be available soon on the IMO
web page as well as on the "Meteoroids 2007" web page. A transfer
from Bareges to Barelona will be organized by Francois Colas of
the LOC of the IMC (contact imc2007@...).

Hope to seeing many meteor enthusiasts at both the IMC 2007
and the "Meteoroids 2007".

Juergen Rendtel
IMO President

Meteor rates continue to be strong as seen from the northern hemisphere. The
antihelion radiant has merged with the two Taurid radiants producing slow
meteors that are visible during the evening and early morning hours. Swift
meteors from the Leonid radiant can be seen during the morning hours for two
weeks centered at mid-month. Strong sporadic rates continue during the
morning hours as long as the moon is below the horizon. From the southern
hemisphere, sporadic rates are increasing in strength toward a peak in
January. Meteors from the Leonid and Taurid radiants also help to fill the
southern skies with more activity. A new moon during the peak of the Leonid
shower will help provide observers with dark skies.

During this period the moon reaches its full phase on Sunday November 5. The
sources of meteors listed below are active during this period but will be
difficult to observe this week. If your sky is transparent and the limiting
magnitude exceeds +5.0, then you may be able to achieve some success. The
estimated total hourly rates for evening observers this week is near three
for those in the Northern Hemisphere and two for those located in the
Southern Hemisphere. For morning observers the estimated total hourly rates
should be near fourteen for those viewing in the Northern Hemisphere and
nine for those in the Southern Hemisphere. These rates assume that you are
watching from rural areas away from all sources of light pollution. The
actual rates will also depend on factors such as personal light and motion
perception, local weather conditions, alertness and experience in watching
meteor activity. Rates are reduced this week due to intense moonlight.

The radiant positions listed below are exact for Saturday night/Sunday
morning November 4/5. These positions do not change greatly day to day so
the listed coordinates may be used during this entire period. Most star
atlases (available at science stores and planetariums) will provide maps
with grid lines of the celestial coordinates so that you may find out
exactly where these positions are located in the sky. A planisphere or
computer planetarium program is also useful in showing the sky at any time
of night on any date of the year. Activity from each radiant is best seen
when it is positioned highest in the sky, either due north or south along
the meridian, depending on your latitude. It must be remembered that meteor
activity is rarely seen at the radiant position. Rather they shoot outwards
from the radiant so it is best to center your field of view so that the
radiant lies at the edge and not the center. Doing this will allow you to
easily trace the path of each meteor back to the radiant (if it is a shower
member) or in another direction if it is a sporadic. Meteor activity is not
seen from radiants that are located below the horizon. The positions below
are listed in a west to east manner in order of right ascension (celestial
longitude). The positions listed first are located further west therefore
are accessible earlier in the night while those listed further down the list
rise later in the night.

The full descriptions of each active meteor shower will continue next week
when the moon becomes less of a nuisance to observers.

Northern Taurid (NTA) 03:28 (052) +21
Northern Hemisphere - 2   Southern Hemisphere - 2

Southern Taurid (STA)  03:28 (052) +15
Northern Hemisphere - 3   Southern Hemisphere - 3

Orionids (ORI) 07:00 (105) +17
Northern Hemisphere - 1   Southern Hemisphere - 1

Clear Skies!
Robert Lunsford
International Meteor Organization

The latest set of observations received by the North American Meteor
Network have been added to our website. The current totals include 25
observers:

Geert Barentsen, Belgium
Nadka Dankova, Bulgaria
George Gliba, USA
Bill Godley, USA
Robin Gray, USA
Wayne Hally, USA
Javor Kac, Slovenia
Richard Kramer, USA
Jan Lembregts, Belgium
David Love, USA
Robert Lunsford, USA
Pierre Martin, Canada
Paul Martsching, USA
Mikhail Maslov, Russia
Bruce McCurdy, Canada
Koen Miskotte, The Netherlands
Ian Musgrave, South Australia
Gregg Pasterick, USA
Nastassia Smeets, Belgium
Wes Stone, USA
David Swann, USA
Michel Vandeputte, Belgium
Harry Waldron, USA
William Watson, USA
Kim Youmans, USA

reporting over 169 hours of observations and 4,799 meteors:

DAU: Delta Aurigids                 2
EGE: Epsilon Geminids              93
GIA: Giacobinids (Draconids)        3
LMI: Leo Minorids                  17
NTA: Taurids, Northern            106
ORI: Orionids                    3233
STA: Taurids, Southern            118
TAU: Taurids, combined radiants    20

SPO: Sporadics                   1207

To view the observing summaries, follow the Recent Meteor Observations link
at http://www.namnmeteors.org . If anyone sees any errors, please let me
know.

Clear skies, and thanks to all of the observers who submitted reports!!

Mark Davis, South Carolina, USA
meteors@...
namn@...

From: "Daniel van Os" <stormchaser@...>
To: <imo-news@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, November 01, 2006 10:59 AM
Subject: [IMO-News] Conditions for the Leonids 2006


> I've looked at the observing conditions for the Leonids around the
> predicted time of the November 19th maximum.
>
> You can find the results here:
>
> http://www.supercell.nl/specials/leo2006/leonids.html
>
> Daniel

Very good work! Do you can to do the same for other
shower in future?
Best greetings.
Roberto Gorelli

I've looked at the observing conditions for the Leonids around the
predicted time of the November 19th maximum.

You can find the results here:

http://www.supercell.nl/specials/leo2006/leonids.html

Daniel

The latest set of observations received by the North American Meteor
Network have been added to our website. The current totals include 23
observers:

Geert Barentsen, Belgium
Nadka Dankova, Bulgaria
George Gliba, USA
Bill Godley, USA
Robin Gray, USA
Wayne Hally, USA
Javor Kac, Slovenia
Richard Kramer, USA
Jan Lembregts, Belgium
David Love, USA
Robert Lunsford, USA
Pierre Martin, Canada
Paul Martsching, USA
Bruce McCurdy, Canada
Koen Miskotte, The Netherlands
Ian Musgrave, South Australia
Gregg Pasterick, USA
Nastassia Smeets, Belgium
Wes Stone, USA
David Swann, USA
Michel Vandeputte, Belgium
Harry Waldron, USA
Kim Youmans, USA

reporting over 135 hours of observations and 3,804 meteors:

DAU: Delta Aurigids                 2
EGE: Epsilon Geminids              60
GIA: Giacobinids (Draconids)        3
LMI: Leo Minorids                  15
NTA: Taurids, Northern             78
ORI: Orionids                    2581
STA: Taurids, Southern             94
TAU: Taurids, combined radiants    20

SPO: Sporadics                    951

To view the observing summaries, follow the Recent Meteor Observations link
at http://www.namnmeteors.org

If anyone sees any typos, please let me know. Clear skies, and thanks to all
of the observers who submitted reports!

Mark Davis, South Carolina, USA
meteors@...
namn@...