Commissions

Activities in the various astronomical sub-disciplines are mostly conducted by Commissions, coordinated through the IAU Scientific Divisions, steering the activities and evolution of one or more IAU Commissions.

The list below is that of the current Commissions, as approved by the Executive Committee (EC95, Padova, April 15-17, 2015) and presented at the XXIXth General Assembly in Honolulu. Please find the list of past Commissions here.

In this list the Commissions are grouped by their status with respect to Divisions:

Regular Commissions
Inter-Division Commissions
Cross-Division Commissions

Individual and Junior Members of the Union may join or leave a Commission at any time, while belonging to no more than three Commissions (four if one falls under Divisions B or C). They should notify the relevant Commission Secretary and the IAU Secretariat.

Please find in the Statutes, the Terms of Reference for Commissions here.

The Bye-Laws and Working Rules also have pertinent information on the Commissions.

A document with some of the duties of Commission Presidents can be found here.

Regular Commissions

	Commission Name	Parent Division
A1	Astrometry	Division A Fundamental Astronomy
A2	Rotation of the Earth	Division A Fundamental Astronomy
A3	Fundamental Standards	Division A Fundamental Astronomy
B1	Computational Astrophysics	Division B Facilities, Technologies and Data Science
B2	Data and Documentation	Division B Facilities, Technologies and Data Science
B3	Astroinformatics and Astrostatistics	Division B Facilities, Technologies and Data Science
B4	Radio Astronomy	Division B Facilities, Technologies and Data Science
B5	Laboratory Astrophysics	Division B Facilities, Technologies and Data Science
B6	Astronomical Photometry and Polarimetry	Division B Facilities, Technologies and Data Science
C1	Astronomy Education and Development	Division C Education, Outreach and Heritage
C2	Communicating Astronomy with the Public	Division C Education, Outreach and Heritage
C3	History of Astronomy	Division C Education, Outreach and Heritage
C4	World Heritage and Astronomy	Division C Education, Outreach and Heritage
C5	Cultural Astronomy	Division C Education, Outreach and Heritage
D1	Gravitational Wave Astrophysics	Division D High Energy Phenomena and Fundamental Physics
E1	Solar Radiation and Structure	Division E Sun and Heliosphere
E2	Solar Activity	Division E Sun and Heliosphere
E3	Solar Impact Throughout the Heliosphere	Division E Sun and Heliosphere
F1	Meteors, Meteorites and Interplanetary Dust	Division F Planetary Systems and Astrobiology
F2	Exoplanets and the Solar system	Division F Planetary Systems and Astrobiology
F3	Astrobiology	Division F Planetary Systems and Astrobiology
F4	Asteroids, Comets & Transneptunian Objects	Division F Planetary Systems and Astrobiology
G1	Binary and Multiple Star Systems	Division G Stars and Stellar Physics
G2	Massive Stars	Division G Stars and Stellar Physics
G3	Stellar Evolution	Division G Stars and Stellar Physics
G4	Pulsating Stars	Division G Stars and Stellar Physics
G5	Stellar and Planetary Atmospheres	Division G Stars and Stellar Physics
H1	The Local Universe	Division H Interstellar Matter and Local Universe
H2	Astrochemistry	Division H Interstellar Matter and Local Universe
J3	Galaxies at the Epoch of Reionisation	Division J Galaxies and Cosmology

Inter-Division Commissions

	Commission Name	Primary Division	Parent Division(s)
A4	Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy	A	A , F
B7	Protection of Existing and Potential Observatory Sites	B	B , C
E4	Impact of Magnetic Activity on Solar and Stellar Environments	E	E , F , G
H3	Planetary Nebulae	H	G , H
H4	Stellar Clusters	H	G , H , J
J1	Galaxy Spectral Energy Distributions	J	D , G , H , J
J2	Intergalactic Medium	J	B , H , J