ICQ
The IWCAs and their predecessors, the American Workshops on Cometary Astronomy (four AWCAs were held in the United States between 1982 and 1987), were established by the ICQ as a forum for bringing amateur and professional astronomers together with the goals of (1) improving the acquisition of cometary information, (2) increasing understanding as to what science can be gained through observing comets by both amateurs and professionals, and (3) providing a forum in which cometary astronomers can meet others from distant geographical locations and discuss various issues. This concept was continued for IWCA I (held in February 1994 in Selvino, Italy) and IWCA II, and we plan to continue it for future IWCAs.
Following an established pattern of holding IWCAs every five years (the 1999 Workshop in England and the 2004 Workshop in France being the most recent), we are looking to have the fourth IWCA in either Shanghai, China, just a few days after the long total solar eclipse of 2009 July 16 (totality will be visible in Shangai, weather permitting), or in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the following month (at the time of the IAU General Assembly there). (There is a small chance that two separate IWCAs will be held in Shanghai and Rio in 2009, if local support is forthcoming and sufficient.) There had originally been plans to have the IWCA IV in Japan in July 2009, but international interest has unfortunately been too weak to warrant the effort of planning such a meeting. Holding Workshops around the time of major astronomical events has the advantage of potentially bringing a more international group of attendees, drawing those who might not otherwise travel to such a meeting from a long distance.
The IWCA III in Paris was a huge success. Among those attending were Michael A'Hearn (USA), Peter Birtwhistle (UK), Nicolas Biver (France), Giuseppe Canonaco (Belgium) Jacques Crovisier (France), Michal Drahus (Poland), Juan Jose Gonzalez (Spain), Dan Green (USA), Piotr Guzik (Poland), Werner Hasubick (Germany), Sebastian Hoenig (Germany), Tony Hoffman (USA), Laurent Jorda (France), Gary Kronk (USA), Joseph Marcus (USA), Brian G. Marsden (USA), Maik Meyer (Germany), Giannantonio Milani (Italy), Carmelita Miranda (USA), Philippe Morel (France), Charles Morris (USA), Shigeki Murakami (Japan), Akimasa Nakamura (Japan), Takaaki Oribe (Japan), Andrew Pearce (Australia), Alex Scholten (The Netherlands), Jonathan Shanklin (UK), Doug Snyder (USA), Giovanni Sostero (Italy), Patrick Stonehouse (USA), Jana Ticha (Czech Rep.), Milos Tichy (Czech Rep.), Rob Van de Weg (The Netherlands), and Waniak Waclaw (Poland).
Invited and contributed talks from the IWCAs are sometimes published in special Proceedings issues of the ICQ.
History of American (AWCAs) and International Workshops on Cometary Astronomy (IWCAs), including planned future meetings Workshop Location Year Near time of AWCA I Cambridge, MA, U.S.A. 1982 AWCA II Pasadena, CA, U.S.A. 1983 AWCA III Tucson, AZ, U.S.A. 1985 Halley's comet AWCA IV Pasadena, CA, U.S.A. 1987 Halley's comet IWCA I Selvino, Italy 1994 IWCA II Cambridge, England 1999 Total solar eclipse IWCA III Paris, France 2004 Venus transit IWCA IV Shanghai, China? 2009 Total solar eclipse; July [tentative] IWCA V Rio de Janeiro, Brazil? 2009 IAU General Assembly; August [tentative] IWCA VI USA* 2017 Total solar eclipse; August ________ * specific site within country yet to be determined