Status of the IAU Meteor Data Center

TL;DR

The paper reviews the structure, data collection, and current requirements of the IAU Meteor Data Center, which manages databases of meteoroid orbits and meteor shower information since 2007.

Contribution

It provides a concise overview of the IAU MDC's database structure, data management practices, and procedures for adding new meteor data.

Findings

The MDC manages two main databases: orbital and shower data.

It serves as a central repository for meteoroid and meteor shower data.

The paper outlines the procedures for data submission and nomenclature.

Abstract

Since 2007, the Meteor Data Center (MDC) has had two components: the Orbital database (OD) and the Shower database (SD). The orbital part is in charge of the efficient collection, checking, and dissemination of geocentric parameters and orbits of individual orbits. Is also acts as a central depository for meteoroid orbits obtained by different techniques: photographic, television, video, CCD and radar. The shower database collects the geocentric and orbital parameters of the meteor showers and meteoroids streams. It is not an archive of all information related to meteor showers, its primary task is to give unique names and codes to new meteor showers (streams). The SD acts in conjunction with the Working Group on Meteor Shower Nomenclature of International Astronomical Union (IAU) Commission F1, "Meteors, Meteorites, and Interplanetary Dust". In our paper, we give a concise description of the IAU MDC database, its origin, structure and, in particular, the current requirements for the introduction of new orbital and shower data.