Abstract
This paper presents a historical overview of meteor research conducted at Tashkent Astronomical Observatory (TAO) from the second half of the nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century. TAO was the first observatory within the Russian Empire, and subsequently the USSR, in which meteor studies were formally included in the institutional research program. Despite its geographical remoteness from major scientific centers, TAO developed a number of pioneering observational and analytical methods that made a significant contribution to the advancement of meteor astronomy. In particular, the technique of simultaneous photographic observations of meteor showers from three spatially separated stations—allowing improved determinations of meteor heights and velocities—was introduced well in advance of its later adoption in Europe. In addition, a statistical counting approach was proposed and subsequently developed by Öpik, enabling indirect estimation of the total number of meteor trails, including those not directly recorded by observers. Special attention should also be given to the pioneering study by Maltzev, who analyzed the heights of maximum meteor luminosity that led to the prediction of an atmospheric layer above the stratosphere at altitudes of 85–90 km. This result, published in Nature, anticipated the later discovery of the mesosphere.