IAU Meteor Data Center: the shower database

Abstract

The IAU Working Group on Meteor Shower Nomenclature was established in 2006 to regulate the nomenclature of meteor showers reported in the scientific literature. One year later the International Astronomical Union Meteor Data Center shower database was implemented (IAU MDC). The database does not contain all information about the meteor showers. Its purpose is to give each new meteoroid stream, published in the scientific literature, a unique name and codes. During the “Meteoroids 2019” conference held in Bratislava, the IAU Working Group on Meteor Shower Nomenclature established new rules for the introduction and removal of meteor showers from the MDC. In this paper, we present a concise description of the meteor shower database, its origin, and struc- ture and, in particular, the current requirements for the introduction of new data, and unknown as well as known meteor showers.