When the COVID-19 pandemic ruined the plans to have the IMC 2020 in Hungary, the IMO Council and the LOC and SOC decided to organize a 1-day online IMC 2020 instead, on Saturday September 19. Seamlessly hosted by and utilizing the Zoom service of the LOC (Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences in Hungary), the online IMC reached 96 registered participants joining the IMC from different time zones (23 countries). Though obviously the program was much shorter this year, it still covered most of the main topics of meteor science, and it seems that people agree that the meeting was a great success. There were no formal proceedings of this event, but articles covering presentations at the on-line IMC can be found in WGN: October 2020 (48:5) and December 2020 (48:6) (PDF).
Of course an online IMC does not provide all the benefits of in-person meetings, but it brought the participants into contact with other people and their work, which was very welcome one year after the previous IMC, especially in this pandemic age. Going virtual also opened an opportunity for IMO to reach a new, wider audience, tearing down the financial and travel restrictions that refrain part of the meteor community to attend the regular IMCs.
Organizing Committee
- Coordinator: Kereszturi Ákos
- Project manager: Marton Rozsahegyi
- Scientific relations: Igaz Antal
- Academic relation: László Kiss
- Local support: Krisztián Sárneczky, Eszter Borsai, Edua Karajos
Scientific Committee
Co-chairs
Deputies
- Francisco Ocaña Gonzales
- Ákos Kereszturi
- Marc Gyssens
- Jean-Louis Rault
- Jürgen Rendtel
- Jérémie Vaubaillon
