The International Occultation Timing Association

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Information Site for Lunar Occultations & Grazes

(click on the RELOAD button to receive the most current version)
All data and charts generated by Occult 4.0 unless otherwise stated

Last Updated 10 APR, 2007

WARNING! Information and e-mail addresses contained herein, are for scientific use only. By entering this site, you agree that you will use this data only for lawful purposes and that, under no circumstances will you use this data to: allow, enable,or otherwise support the transmission of mass unsolicited, commercial advertising or solicitations via direct mail, electronic mail, or by telephone.

MISSION STATEMENT

To encourage and facilitate the observation of occultations and eclipses

We provide predictions for grazing occultations of stars by the Moon
and predictions for occultations of stars by asteroids and planets

We also provide information on observing equipment and techniques,
and we report to our members about observations made

IOTA GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

To promote scientific research and discovery using occultation related methods
To conduct research at the local, regional and international level
and to publish results of studies in popular and scientific journals
To stimulate public awareness of phenomena such as eclipses and occultations
To improve lunar profile data through timing of grazing and total occultations
To determine shapes and sizes of minor planets and comets through timing of occultations of stars by these objects

Please visit our Goals and Objectives page for full details

IOTA CHAT ROOM

Upcoming Occultation Events

Check David Dunham's Site for General Updates

10 Apr - Occultation of beta Tauri for southern Africa, Mauritius
15 Apr - Occultation of Regulus for Madagascar
23 Apr - Occultation of Antares for southern Australia, New Zealand
26 Apr - Occultation of sigma Sgr for Tahiti, northern South America
10 May - Occultation of Mars for Europe, N Africa, SW Asia
10 May - Occultation of Mars for India [link by Arvind Paranjpye]
20 May - Occultation of Antares for eastern South America, southern Africa
23 May - Occultation of sigma Sgr for southeast Asia, northern Australia

Asteroid Occultation Information

Steve Preston's World Wide Prediction Site
Derek Breit's Regional Asteroid Path Maps for USA
North American Asteroidal Reference Homepage
2008 Results Page for North America
Worldwide Results Home Page
Report Form For Asteroid Observations

2008 Predictions

Worldwide Occultations of Planets by the Moon
Worldwide Occultations of Regulus, Antares, beta Tau and sigma Sgr
Worldwide Occultations of the 6 Brightest Pleiads
Occultations of Bright Stars for 40 North American Cities
2008 Graze Maps on David Dunham's Website
Eclipse Maps and Weather

Helpful Information

I.O.T.A.'s Administrative Site
I.O.T.A. Membership Application
IOTAoccultations@yahoo.com - Discussion Maillist
"Chasing the Shadow: The IOTA Occultation Observer's Manual
The Occultation Observer's Handbook by Robinson & Povenmire
NWS Current Weather & Forecasts
Time Conversion Tables - UTC to Local for USA
World Time Zone Map
IOTA Annual Meeting Minutes
Sky & Telescope's Occultation Page
Links to Other Occultation Sites

Occult Software and Related Information

Occult version 4.0 Prediction Software
occult-software@yahoo.com - Discussion Maillist
Updated Software Version and new Asteroid Observations
How to Use Occult 4 to Predict Comet Occultations
The ZC Star Catalog (not to be interfaced with Occult)
2008 Occelmnt File for Predictions

NOTE: Versions of Occult prior to v4.0 are no longer supported

OccultWatcher - A free software program designed by Hristo Pavlov to help asteroidal occultation observers to stay tuned with the latest predictions published by Steve Preston on his web site. The program monitors the site and downloads the new or updated predictions when they become available

Basics of Total Occultations

Basic Information and How to Obtain Predictions
The Prediction Format for Total Occultations
The Occult Multi-City Prediction Format
The Value of Total Lunar Occultations
Timing & Location Accuracies for Observations
A Simulator for Reaction Time by Doug Kniffen
Mapping Services and Software for Determining Coordinates
Reporting Occultation Timings by E-mail
Help IOTA Coordinate Occultation Observations

Basics of Grazing Occultations

The Grazing Occultation
How to Read ACLPPP & GRAZEREG Predictions
IOTA Standard Stations
North American city coordinates
Limb Profiles of the Moon by Mitsuru Soma
Archive of Observed Graze Profile Reductions

Regional Information on Events
all these are external links

Local Information for Mid-Atlantic Occultations - D. Dunham
Local Information for NE USA & SE Canada - B. Timerson
Local Information for the Kansas-Missouri Area - R. Sandy
Information for the Upper Midwest- MN, IA, ND, SD and WI
Local Information for the San Francisco Bay Area - D. Breit
Local Information for the Houston Area - P. Maley
Local Information for the Edmonton Alberta area - A. Ling
Occultations for Belgium, France, Spain, and Portugal - J. Schwaenen
Dr Salvador Aguirre's Occultation Yahoo Group for Mexico
Information for Hong Kong by W. C. Yue (in Chinese)
Information for Greater China Area by W. C. Yue (in Chinese)

If you have a local URL for your area, send information to the webmaster for inclusion

Use of Video on Timing Events A Light Weight Portable Video Setup - by R. Nugent
Richard Nugent's System - by D. Dunham
Tom Heisey's Video Setup (PDF)
"Millisecond Video Timing for the Masses" by S. Herchak
Finding Limiting Mag for Visual/Video Camera Observations

LiMovie measurement tool for video occultations
LiMovie measurements made by the author
(note: with IE right click the page & select the translation option)

Other Sources of Information Mitsuru Soma's Listing of Reported Grazes
Richard Wild's Listing of Reported Grazes
Observations & Reductions at ILOC, Japan

Miscellaneous Stuff Miscellaneous Programs and Patches
XZ80Q Release Notes and Downloadable Catalog
I.O.T.A. Tax Information/Expense Report [pdf format]
Additional Reference Reading Material

astronomylinks.com
astronomy and space links, shortcuts, favorites and bookmarks.

This site maintained for IOTA by Rob Robinson, Bonner Springs KS
Send comments and mail to Webmaster
Send comments and mail to I.O.T.A. President, David Dunham, Greenbelt MD
IOTA Administration, Stillwater, OK, email I.O.T.A.

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