The International Meteor Organization (IMO) was formally founded in 1988 from predecessor gatherings over many years. IMO has several hundred members and was created in response to an ever-growing need for international cooperation on amateur and professional
meteor
A meteor, known colloquially as a shooting star, is a glowing streak of a small body (usually meteoroid) going through Earth's atmosphere, after being heated to incandescence by collisions with air molecules in the upper atmosphere,
creating a ...
work. The collection of meteor observations by several methods from all around the world ensures the comprehensive study of
meteor shower
A meteor shower is a celestial event in which a number of meteors are observed to radiate, or originate, from one point in the night sky. These meteors are caused by streams of cosmic debris called meteoroids entering Earth's atmosphere at ext ...
s and their relation to
comet
A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that warms and begins to release gases when passing close to the Sun, a process called outgassing. This produces an extended, gravitationally unbound atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma surrounding ...
s and
interplanetary dust.
IMO publishes a bimonthly journal called ''WGN''
[WGN = "werkgroepnieuws" (Dutch language), in English as "workgroup news". WGN was initially a circular before it became a journal.] and holds an annual International Meteor Conference (IMC) in September.
[IMO website.]
See also
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American Meteor Society
The American Meteor Society, Ltd. (AMS) is a non-profit scientific organization established to encourage and support the research activities of both amateur and professional astronomers who are interested in the field of meteor astronomy. Its affi ...
*
List of astronomical societies
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Meteoritics
Notes
References
External links
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''WGN'', the Journal of the International Meteor Organization
{{Authority control
Astronomy societies
Scientific organisations based in Belgium
International scientific organizations
Space science organizations