Have you ever seen a shooting star? Surely. Occasionally visible colored rings around the sun may have caught your attention. Witnesses of noctilucent clouds and auroras are certainly rarer. All these phenomena are linked to the Earth's atmosphere. In the Arbeitskreis Meteore e.V. (AKM), enthusiasts of such phenomena have come together. Our association has existed in its current form since 1990, but originated as an observer group in 1975. The AKM now has about 80 members. It oversees the specialized groups Meteors and Atmospheric Phenomena of the Vereinigung der Sternfreunde e.V. (VdS).
Goals of AKM e.V. are:
- to enable members to engage more deeply with meteors, halos, auroras, and related phenomena,
- the coordination of amateur astronomical research in the mentioned fields,
- supporting suitable observer networks,
- ensuring the availability of observational data for scientific purposes,
- promoting information exchange and cooperation on national and international levels,
- popularizing results of our own investigations and international research in the mentioned fields.
AKM publishes the newsletter METEOROS —usually monthly. The word "meteoros" comes from Greek and originally refers to all phenomena in the atmosphere. Under this name, meteors, halos, noctilucent clouds, auroras, etc., are equally considered. Every year on a weekend in March or April, the members of the working group meet for the traditional AKM spring seminar. There, the latest observation results are exchanged, new projects initiated, and contacts among observers refreshed.
- Information about membership in AKM e.V.
