What is the International Astronomical Union (IAU)?

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) is an organization that coordinates the work of national astronomical associations along with professional astronomers. IAU promotes progress in astronomy science along with the protection of astronomy as a scientific area. It is a member organization of the International Council for Science, a group of international scientific organizations, which includes, among other things, the International Union of Clean and Applied Chemistry and the International Mathematical Union.

This organization was founded in 1919 with melting several astronomical organizations. It is based in Paris in France and includes individual professional members, most of whom are leaders in astronomy, along with numerous national astronomical organizations. While most of the work of the International Astronomical Union focuses on progress in professional astronomy, the organization also works with groups that include amateur astronomy's members and recognizes the valuable contributions of some amateur astronomers. The organization has considerably defined and urConditions for use in astronomy so that astronomers can communicate with each other clearly. For example, when the astronomer writes about the "planet" in a scientific article, other astronomers know exactly what kind of heavenly body to which the astronomer refers to, thanks to the standards set by the IAU.

There are several parts of IAU. The first is the General Assembly, a team of representative Member nations that meet every three years to determine politics. The place of meetings of the General Assembly rotates and gives each membership nation to host the International Astronomical Union. The organization as a whole is divided into divisions, each division is divided into commissions. The commissions have a large fund of work groups and programs that work on individual issues.

For standardization, astronomical texts usually adhere to terminology defined by the International Astronomical UnionIt regularly publishes updates so that people in the field can keep up with changing terminology. However, the definitions of the published IAU are not controversial, because scientists are a notorious and argument group and astronomers are no exception. The decision to reduce Pluto from the "planet" to the "dwarf planet" and later "Plutoid", for example, attracted much attention.