International Occultation Timing Association * European Section *

Reporting Lunar Occultation Observations Dietmar Büttner, IOTA/ES In order to ensure the intended benefit from lunar occultation observations it is necessary to evaluate as many as possible observations together in the same scientific analysis. This requires to send each relieable observation to the international authorities which collect and analys the occultation data worldwide. Where to send the reports? There are two instances to which lunar occultation observations should be sent: International Lunar Occultation Center (ILOC)   in Tokyo, Japan:   iloc@jodc.go.jp Mitsuru Soma, Tokyo National Observatory   in Tokyo, Japan:   somamt@cc.nao.ac.jp Who evaluates occultation observations? The ILOC collects observations of total and grazing occultations. Within a few days or weeks after receiving the observations ILOC computes a preliminary reduction and returns it to the observer. This gives a feedback to the observer and could reveal any possible errors in the report. A volume with all received observations per year is published by the ILOC three years after that particular year and can be downloaded from the ILOC webpages at   http://www1.kaiho.mlit.go.jp/KOHO/iloc/docs/iloc_e.html. Mitsuru Soma   collects observations of grazing occultations. He is the Vice President for Grazing Occultation Services within the International Occultation Timing Association (IOTA). He analyses the received graze observations and includes the results intothe IOTA's lunar limb data base ACLPPP. An overview on the received graze reports as well as a description of ACLPPPP can be found on the IOTA webpages at   http://lunar-occultations.com/iota/iotandx.htm. Dietmar Büttner   (IOTA/ES) in Chemnitz/Germany analyses observations of total and grazing occultations in order to derive lunar limb profiles within the IOTA/ES project   MOONLIMB. It is not necessary to send observations directly to   D. Büttner. M. Soma   and the ILOC forward the received and collected data regularly to him. How to report the observations? The observations should be sent as a computer readable data file in the standard ILOC report format. This format has been established and approved for many years. It has become the international standard format for exchanging lunar occultation observations. Moreover it allows the import of observation data into the programs   LOW   and   OCCULT   (see below) for own comparisons. ILOC is processing the observations only in this computer readable standard format; they do no longer accept the paper report forms used formerly. This reports should be sent preferably by email. In this way the report file should not be included within the text body of the email, but it only should be sent as an attachment to the email. Every other format (e.g. plain unformatted text within an email) should be avoided. It would cause unnecessary errors as well as the resulting checkbacks and additional efforts to bring the data into the requested format by the persons using the data. How to create the report files? The report files can be easily created using one of the following two programs. Both programs are freeware and can be downloaded from the internet: LOW   (= Lunar Occultation Workbench) by   Eric Limburg, http://home.plex.nl/~gottm/doa OCCULT   by   David Herald, http://lunar-occultations.com/iota/iotandx.htm Using one of these tools provides a comfortable way to put the data into the requested computer readable format. The user is well guided and the data may be checked for any serious errors just as they are put in. Do not create or edit the report files using any ASCII editor or text processing program (like MS Windows Notepad or MS Word). This would be too difficult and could introduce any unnecessary error sources. Which data should be reported? A complete description of the report content (items and coding) is given on the ILOC website at http://www1.kaiho.mlit.go.jp/KOHO/iloc/docs/iloc_e.html Final remarks Additionally to the addresses mentioned above the report files and any comments could be provided to the   graze observers mailing list   (graze@Aula.com). This is the European forum for planning graze expeditions and for exchanging results and experiences from graze observations.