IAU Logo IAU Division III

Planetary Systems Sciences

Sciences des Systèmes Planétaires

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Working Groups of the Division

IAU Division III currently has several working groups, which carry out specific duties which transcend the boundaries of any single commission within the division. We make no practical distinction between committees and working groups within the division since the distinction is primarily an historical one. By IAU rules, all Working Groups must be renewed every triennium if they are still relevant. Thus, the roster of working groups changes periodically. A brief history of prior working groups can be found by checking earlier versions of the web pages here. The most recent changes, made at GA XXVI in Prague in August 2006 include conversion of the WG on Extra-solar Planets into a commission and conversion of the WG on NEOs into a much smaller WG of the IAU Executive Committee.

Individual Working Groups

Joint IAU/IAG Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotational Elements
This working group is jointly sponsored with IAU Division I (Fundamental Astronomy) and is charged with setting standards for the coordinate systems to be used in mapping the surfaces of bodies in the solar system. The standards resulting from their work are published periodically in the journal Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy. The working group's web page is here.

Minor Planet Center Committee
This committee, newly created during IAU General Assembly XXV in Sydney, is charged with advising on the policies and practices of the Minor Planet Center. The chairman is Hans Rickman and the other members are Michael A'Hearn, Steven Chesley, and Giovanni Valsecchi. This committee does not maintain a web page.

Comité pour la nomenclature des petits corps célestes
Committee on Small Body Nomenclature
This group sets policies for names and assigns names to comets and asteroids (and their satellites) and is currently chaired by Jana Tichá of the Klet Observatory (Czech Republic). This committee advises the Directors of the Minor Planet Center and Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams regarding the names of minor planets and comets. The committee maintains a Web Page that includes recently assigned names as well as other relevant information.

Working Group on Planetary System Nomenclature
Groupe de Travail sur la nomenclature du système planétaire
This group assigns names to satellites and to surface features on bodies of the solar system. It is currently chaired by Rita Schulz, of ESA's European Space Research and Technology Center in Noordwijk, The Netherlands. This committee maintains a web page with the planetary gazeteer and other relevant information.

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IAU .............. IAU Division III ............. IAU CSBN

Department of Astronomy ............. M. F. A'Hearn ............. The Real World

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Created: 1997/09/09, mfa; Last Update: (Saturday, 09-Sep-2006 20:49:59 EDT), mfa