Home » The International Meteor Organization » International Meteor Conference » The history of the IMC-tradition

Balatonföldvár - Hungary, 5-8 October 1989

  • 8th meeting
  • Local organizers: Zsolt Berend, Tamás Kalmár, Kálmán Tarnay, Péter Spányi, Gábor Süle, István Tepliczky - Hungarian Amateur Astronomical Society (MACSIT), Hungarian Meteor and Fireball Observing Network (MMTÉH)
  • 66 participants from 11 countries: Belgium (5), Bulgaria (6), Croatia/Yugoslavia (2), Czech Republic/Czechoslovakia (3), Germany/BRD&DDR (12), France (2), Hungary (23), Russia/USSR (2), the Netherlands (4), Slovakia/Czechoslovakia (6) and U.K. (1).
  • 20 presentations all of which were given in the Proceedings.
  • IMC 1989 Proceedings (ISBN none): 103 pages (eds Péter Spányi, István Tepliczky).
  • Contents: Impact processes - fireball rates, patrol - radiant determination from TV meteors - association of minor shower meteors - sporadic-E activity - computer programs for meteor observers.
  • Participation fee 90 Euro.
The 1989 IMC took place in Hotel Festival at Lake Balaton, a favorite holiday resort of the former Communist Party. To prepare the final aspects of the first General Assembly of the then one-year-old IMO, several IMO members arrived days before the IMC and stayed in Kötcse, in a farmhouse that served as the observing site for the Hungarian Amateur Astronomical Society.

At this 8th meeting the IMC-concept was changed: IMO became supervisor and coordinator of the IMC, while the organizational aspects were to be managed by a local organizing committee. The IMC was extended by one day, making it more worthwhile for people to travel far for it. As a consequence, the participation fee of the IMC increased, but since this was done, more participants from more countries have attended the event. The Conference became an annual one, instead of at about every 18 months, and an optimal date around a month after the Perseid maximum was considered as the best time for future IMCs. A half day was reserved for an excursion. This time the historical town of Tihany, located on a beautiful peninsula on the opposite side of Lake Balaton was the destination. Participants may remember how the large lorry of a Czech participant served to transport some 20 people to the ferry.

The first and founding General Assembly of the IMO took place at this IMC, at a historical moment for Europe, just when the Iron Curtain, that had split West and East Europe for several decades, started to collapse. The location of the Conference (in a former "socialist" country) allowed more people from East European countries to participate than ever before. In our own way, this was the meteor observers' contribution to the unification of Europe.

Acknowledgement: We thank Péter Spányi and Casper ter Kuile for providing photographs for the 1989 IMC, Alastair McBeath and Péter Spányi for their contribution to the description.
High resolution versions can be obtained on request for the images in the gallery.