2005 Annual IOTA Meeting, Stillwater, Oklahoma, Oct. 29-30
Updated: 2005 Dec. 19
Information about logistics for the IOTA meeting, including notes and procedures for attending via the Web, were posted by Derek Breit on his Web site, but he recently removed that information to make room for other items. Since this was the first IOTA meeting with Webcasting, for the first time observers around the world could participate in the meeting. Those not physically in Stillwater called in questions and comments either via the Web cast, or by cell phones of those attending the meeting (nearly all via the Web cast). This includes a link to the updated IOTA manual. Costantino Sigismondi telephoned from Italy during the IOTA meeting requesting that two files be presented at the meeting, but they weren't received in a form that could be presented, and the agenda was already too full. Costantino has revised his files that are now included here, in the items about solar eclipses and the Regulus/Rhodope asteroidal occultation. Richard Nugent has prepared a first version of the minutes of the IOTA meeting; I have made several corrections in this version that will be updated further soon for publication in Occultation Newsletter. This, and the addition of this link to Richard Nugent's Web site showing some pictures that he took during the meeting, are the only changes to this site from the previous update that was made on Nov. 17. This Dec. 19th update to the Dec. 9th version only adds Art Lucas' good article about the LiMovie software to help explain use of this valuable program, and a link to an item showing some of my asteroidal occultation videos, including the one of Regulus by 166 Rhodope on 2005 October 19. IOTA Meeting Agenda OCTOBER 28 - Friday 8 pm (1:00 UT Oct. 29) - Met at Art Lucas' observatory/home to plan observations of the occultation by (790) Pretoria early the next morning. Coordinated with David Dunham by his cell phone, 301-526-5590. Also, Art's home phone is 405-372-4506 and his cell phone is 405-612-6491. OCTOBER 29 - Saturday 5:59 am CDT (10:59 UT): Occultation of 10.8-mag. TYC 0216-01594-1 by the 170-km asteroid (790) Pretoria, visible from a path passing over Tulsa, OK, about 100 miles northeast of Stillwater. Click here and here for much prediction information. The occultation was successfully observed, mostly with video systems, by IOTA meeting attendees from 6 sites spanning from 40 km southwest to 65 km northeast of the predicted central line, with maximum chord lengths approaching 8 seconds; a 7th station at the predicted northern limit at 87 km northeast had no occultation. The observation at 65 km northeast was a remote station. Unfortunately, clouds approaching from the west ruined the view at Stillwater, and some observers who tried the event in the region were clouded out. A 7th chord near the predicted central line has been reported by Benny Roberts in Jackson, MS. More about the results of this occultation will be posted here later. Meeting Agenda - All items on the agenda were covered, but unfortunately there was a power outage at the Calif. Institute of Technology, through which the Webcast was routed, that started exactly at the start of the meeting (it was possible to warn those who logged on early about this), and lasted over 2 hours. Most of the rest of the meeting was Webcast, but no attempt was made to video record the meeting. Presentation files that are new or updated from the previous update on Oct. 28 are indicated below with a "+" after the UT time. CDT UT 10:00am 15:00 IOTA meeting starts, Room 110 of the Physical Sciences Building of the Oklahoma State University. 10:00am 15:00 Introduction & Logistics, Art Lucas - 5 min. 10:05am 15:05 Welcome to OSU, Dr. McKeever, Vice Pres. for Research, OSU, 5m 10:10am 15:10 Introductions, all attendees & log online attendees - 10 min. 10:20am 15:20 IOTA business meeting - 75 min. Art Lucas, administrative and financial report Reports of other officers On-line manual status - Richard Nugent The current IOTA manual can be found here. This version from Richard Nugent supersedes what is on his Web site, which he can no longer maintain, with the current size of the manual. Different options for publishing the manual were discussed, after it is finalized sometime early next year. The link above, besides the manual files, has some further useful links; the one for CCD drift scan timing was recently corrected. David Dunham, new/changed vice presidents? David Dunham, IOTA meeting presentations & proceedings? John Graves, Occultation Newsletter - always need articles for ON Need help with secretary-treasurer job - Chad Ellington volunteered to take over the secretary job, but Art Lucas will keep the treasure job for now. Other business 11:35am 16:35*Brief accounts of the Pretoria occultation, all - 10 min. Asteroidal Occultations Prediction methods 11:45am 16:45 Update on the prediction process, S. Preston. Steve Preston was not at the meeting and did not participate in the Webcast, so I just mentioned that he described his system in a talk at last year's meeting. Since that meeting, Steve has posted preliminary updates for all the occultations that he currently plans to update through the end of 2006. 12:00am 17:00 Plotting updated paths, the Google maps revolution - 15 min. 12:15pm 17:15 Lunch in Physical Sciences Bldg. - 40 min. Asteroidal Occultations (continued) Observing methods & effects 12:55pm 17:55 H. S. Mendenhall Observatory, 10 megabytes, Dr. Peter Shull, 5 min. 1:00pm 18:00 Video time insertion - WWV, Manly inserter update, D. Nye 5 min. 1:05pm 18:05 GPS video time insertion - Kiwi OSD, PFD Systems productionKiwi OSD PFD Web site 15 min. 1:20pm 18:20*Other GPS time inservers - McAfee, TiVI, Cuno 10 min. 1:30pm 18:30 Compact portable systems - D. Dunham, 10 min. 1:40pm 18:40+Pre-pointing telescopes to get more chords - not just for remote stations, but for helping others make observations, 15 megs - D. Dunham 15 min. 1:55pm 18:55*Rating Asteroid Occultations for Urban Observers, P. Maley 15m. 2:10pm 19:10 LiMovie reduction of video observations - A. Lucas et al., 30 min. +Art's article about getting started with LiMovie 2:40pm 19:40*Finding the target star - D. Dunham 15 min. Lunar Grazing Occultations 2:55pm 19:55 Using predictions & profiles to find oberving sites, Dunham 20m 3:15pm 20:15 Google Maps plots 10 min. 3:25pm 20:25 2004 Dec. 17th graze profile, ZC 3434, D. Dunham, 10 min. 3:35pm 20:35+2005 Mar. 3rd Antares graze in Baja California 10 min. 3:45pm 20:45+2005 Apr. 15/16 upsilon Gem graze, close double star discovery - Bob Sandy, Derek Breit & others, 15 min. 4:00pm 21:00*2005 Mar. 15th graze of tau Arietis across Penn. Dunham 10 min. 4:10pm 21:10+2005 July 18th Antares graze - Bob Sandy & D. Dunham, 15 min. 4:25pm 21:25+1998 Sept. 12th Aldebaran graze - Bob Sandy, 5 min. 4:30pm 21:30 Break, 20 min. Solar Eclipses 4:50pm 21:50 Solar diameter results from eclipses reported at the SORCE Science Meeting, D. Dunham, J. Thompson, S. Sofia, D. Herald, R. Buechner, A. Fiala, W. Warren, H. Bates, P. Rosenzweig, & O. Naranjo, presented by Dunham, 50 min. +Solar Grazes & Solar Diameter, Costantino Sigismondi 5:40pm 22:40 Plans for 2006 & later solar eclipses, P. Maley 20 min. 6:00pm 23:00 Project "Blind Squirrel": A Concept for Intercepting Asteroid Occultations and maybe Asteroid Companions 6:10pm 23:10 Open discussion, other topics, etc. 30 min. 6:40pm 23:40 - adjourn for the day 6:55pm 23:55 Barbecue at Art Lucas's observatory/home 5403 Bluebird Trail OCTOBER 30 - Sunday - *** Now on Central Standard Time! *** CST UT 9:00am 15:00 IOTA meeting resumes, Physical Sciences Bldg., room 110 Asteroidal Occultation Results - 9:00am 15:00 Project to update all observations & include in Occult 10 min. 9:10am 15:10 Niobe Occ'n in February, MO & Iowa - large satellite? DWD 10m. 9:20am 15:20+May 17th Alexandra occultation, Baja, TX, OK, 2005 best so far D. Dunham & others, 20 min. 9:40am 15:40 Aug. 13th Julia occultation, Baja, NM, CO, SK, Dunham 15min. 9:55am 15:55 Oct. 19th Rhodope/Regulus occ'n, Port., Spain, Italy, Greece +and Power Point file, D. Dunham, 15 min. +The Unique Case of Regulus, Costantino Sigismondi +Asteroid Occ'n Videos by D. Dunham, including Regulus/Rhodope 10:10am 16:10*Oct. 21st Dione appulse, D. Dunham, 5 min. 10:15am 16:15 Random Asteroid Satellite Search Status Report 2005 (warning, file is 16 megabytes) - P. Maley, 25 min. 10:40am 16:40*Oct. 29th Pretoria preliminary info., videos - 10 min. Predictions 10:50am 16:50+ 2005 lunar occultations and grazes Spica occultation & graze, Christmas, Dunham, Breit 10 min. 11:00am 17:00+2006 lunar occultations and grazes Antares (S. Hem.), Pleiades, El Nath, D. Dunham, 10 min. 2005 future asteroidal occultations 11:10am 17:10+Plans for Tercidina, Nov. 15, Dunham & Breit, 10 min. 11:20am 17:20+Plans for Europa, Dec. 3, 5 min. 11:25am 17:25+2006 asteroidal occultations, Dunham, (Preston, Stamm, Goffin, Donnell), Breit 20 min. 11:45am 17:45 Planetary/satellite occultations, D. Dunham, D. Herald 10 min. 11:55am 17:55 Discussion and other topics not covered above - 35 min. 12:30pm 18:30 - adjourn, lunch You can see the agenda for last year's IOTA meeting, on 2004 July 2-3 in Apple Valley, Calif., with many of its presentations, here. Many good lectures were given at the European Symposium on Occultation Projects meeting held at the end of August this year in Helsinki, Finland; you can see them here. Dave Herald and Rob Robinson have recently posted some of the better-observed asteroidal occultation profiles here. David Dunham, IOTA e-mail home dunham@starpower.net office david.dunham@jhuapl.edu