Modification of the Shower Database of the IAU Meteor Data Center

Abstract

Context. The Shower Database (SD) of the Meteor Data Center (MDC) has been operating for 15 yr and is used by the entire community of meteor astronomers. It contains meteor showers categorised in individual lists on the basis of their status. Since the inception of the SD, no objective rules for moving showers between individual lists have been established. The content of the SD has not yet been checked for the correctness of the meteor data contained therein. Aims. Our aims are (1) to formulate criteria for nominating meteor showers for established status, (2) to improve the rules for the removal of showers, (3) to verify and enhance the content of the SD, and (4) to improve the user area of the MDC SD. Methods. The criteria for moving showers from the Working list to the Lists of established or removed showers were generated using an empirical evaluation of their impact on the registered showers. The correctness of the parameters of each stream included in the SD was checked by comparing them with the values given in the source publications. Results. We developed a set of criteria for nominating showers to be established. We objectified rules for the temporary and permanent removal of meteor showers from the Working list. Both of our proposed new procedures were approved by a vote of the commission F1 of the IAU in July 2022. We verified more than 1350 data records of the MDC SD and introduced ~1700 corrections. We included new parameters for shower characterisation. As a result of our verification procedure, 117 showers have been moved to the List of removed showers. As of October 2022, the SD contains 923 showers, 110 of which are in the List of established showers and 813 are in the Working list. We also improved the user area of the SD and added a simple tool to allow a quick check of the similarity of a new shower to those in the database.