Each year, the International Meteor Organisation (IMO) organises an international conference that brings together professional and amateur meteor observers from across the globe. Some of the FRIPON national coordinators also attended the event and enjoyed the various talks covering the full breadth of meteor astronomy and adjacent fields.
The IMC 2023 conference kicked-off with an evening session dedicated to the discovery of asteroid 2023CX1 by Krisztián Sárneczky and the successful recovery and study of the Saint-Pierre-le-Viger meteorite in France, by François Colas and Brigitte Zanda. As IMO noted, this achievement “underscored the collaborative spirit of the meteor community, highlighting the synergy between asteroid hunters, meteor camera operators, software developers, meteorite experts, and many more”. Later during the conference Felipe Gutierrez gave the audience an update about the expansion of the FRIPON network in Chile.
National coordinators of FRIPON networks in Belgium, UK, Romania, France, Chile and the Netherlands also attended the conference. The bustling environment of the event offered them a nice opportunity to meet informally, exchange experience and discuss the latest developments in their national networks.
Global community
The 42nd International Meteor Conference 2023 was held in Redu, Belgium, and brought together on-site (86) and virtual (43) attendees. The meeting covered a wide range of topics including optical, radio and spectroscopic studies of meteors and experimental studies of meteorites. Various talks can now be viewed online via the conference website. Overall the event was a success and the IMO concluded that the conference “illustrated well that the meteor community is pushing boundaries, exploring new frontiers, and ensuring that the world remains informed and prepared to enjoy meteor showers”.
Sources: IMO website; group images by François Colas