American Meteor Society
Encyclopedia
The American Meteor Society, Ltd. (AMS) is a non-profit scientific organization established to encourage and support the research activities of both amateur and professional astronomers who are interested in the field of Meteor Astronomy. Its affiliates observe, monitor, collect data on, study, and report on meteor
s, meteor shower
s, meteoric fireballs, and related meteoric phenomena.
The society was founded in 1911 by Charles P. Olivier of the Leander McCormick Observatory. The initial enrollment was fifteen members. These were recruited by Dr. Olivier by letter. The first paper based on the observations of the members appeared in the Astronomical Journal in 1912, describing the η Aquarid meteor shower
. In 1926, Dr. Olivier began to publish meteor notes from the society on a nearly monthly basis in the Popular Astronomy magazine under the title "Monthly Notes". This continued until his editor, Curvin H. Gingrich, died.
Some time prior to 1932, Dr. Olivier began appointing regional directors to facilitate the data collection for the society. A director was appointed to the Pacific Northwest region in 1932. Initially this consisted of Washington and Oregon states, but later came to include the western provinces of Canada plus Idaho and Montana. In 1938, the Canadian provinces were withdrawn from the society, while California was added. This western division was headquartered at the University of Oregon
in Eugene.
In 1960, Dr. Olivier published the first catalogue of hourly meteor rates based upon the data collected by the society members from 1901 to 1958. The second catalogue was published in 1965, which included data up to 1963.
During the late 1970s, David Meisel became Executive Director of the society. The headquarters for the society was relocated to Genesee
, New York
. The society research was expanded to include radio meteor studies, then spectroscopy of meteors.
The society publishes observations and scientific interpretations quarterly in Meteor Trails, The Journal of American Meteor Society. Once per year they give the American Meteor Society Award to a person who has contributed to research on meteors. They also provide an annual research grant to a student of SUNY-Geneseo who has contributed to meteor research or to the AMS.
METEOR
METEOR is a metric for the evaluation of machine translation output. The metric is based on the harmonic mean of unigram precision and recall, with recall weighted higher than precision...
s, meteor shower
Meteor shower
A meteor shower is a celestial event in which a number of meteors are observed to radiate from one point in the night sky. These meteors are caused by streams of cosmic debris called meteoroids entering Earth's atmosphere at extremely high speeds on parallel trajectories. Most meteors are smaller...
s, meteoric fireballs, and related meteoric phenomena.
The society was founded in 1911 by Charles P. Olivier of the Leander McCormick Observatory. The initial enrollment was fifteen members. These were recruited by Dr. Olivier by letter. The first paper based on the observations of the members appeared in the Astronomical Journal in 1912, describing the η Aquarid meteor shower
Meteor shower
A meteor shower is a celestial event in which a number of meteors are observed to radiate from one point in the night sky. These meteors are caused by streams of cosmic debris called meteoroids entering Earth's atmosphere at extremely high speeds on parallel trajectories. Most meteors are smaller...
. In 1926, Dr. Olivier began to publish meteor notes from the society on a nearly monthly basis in the Popular Astronomy magazine under the title "Monthly Notes". This continued until his editor, Curvin H. Gingrich, died.
Some time prior to 1932, Dr. Olivier began appointing regional directors to facilitate the data collection for the society. A director was appointed to the Pacific Northwest region in 1932. Initially this consisted of Washington and Oregon states, but later came to include the western provinces of Canada plus Idaho and Montana. In 1938, the Canadian provinces were withdrawn from the society, while California was added. This western division was headquartered at the University of Oregon
University of Oregon
-Colleges and schools:The University of Oregon is organized into eight schools and colleges—six professional schools and colleges, an Arts and Sciences College and an Honors College.- School of Architecture and Allied Arts :...
in Eugene.
In 1960, Dr. Olivier published the first catalogue of hourly meteor rates based upon the data collected by the society members from 1901 to 1958. The second catalogue was published in 1965, which included data up to 1963.
During the late 1970s, David Meisel became Executive Director of the society. The headquarters for the society was relocated to Genesee
Genesee, New York
Genesee is a town in Allegany County, New York, United States. The population was 1,803 at the 2000 census.The Town of Genesee is in the southwest corner of the county, southeast of Olean, New York.-History:The first settler arrived around 1823...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. The society research was expanded to include radio meteor studies, then spectroscopy of meteors.
The society publishes observations and scientific interpretations quarterly in Meteor Trails, The Journal of American Meteor Society. Once per year they give the American Meteor Society Award to a person who has contributed to research on meteors. They also provide an annual research grant to a student of SUNY-Geneseo who has contributed to meteor research or to the AMS.