EXPLANATION OF IOTA/ILOC LUNAR OCCULTATION OBSERVATION REPORT FORM E-mail 76 format, 1995 August 31; last update 1996 June 21; electronic file prepared by Wayne H. Warren Jr. & David W. Dunham, IOTA This is the new E-mail 76 format, which is a little different from the 78- character-per-line format described in the June 1995 issue of Occultation Newsletter (ON). The new format is necessary because some e-mail systems support messages with only 76 characters per line. David has provided ILOC with a conversion program to convert the new files back to the 80-column disk format that they need. The new 76 format was announced in the 1995 December issue of ON. The ZC 885 example in E-mail 76 format is given in a separate message, and can be used as a template for typing your report. Some other notes about the ON article will be given in the second message. Unlike the ON article, this is intended to be a reasonably complete description of all columns of the form, so that those using it should not need the printed explanations that are distributed with the printed forms. Completed forms should be sent to: International Lunar Occultation Centre (ILOC) coordinator: Masayosi Yamaguti (iloc@ws11.cue.jhd.go.jp) - for total and grazing occultation reports. International Occultation Timing Association (IOTA) graze coordinator: Richard Wilds (darkmatter-at-hart@worldnet.att.net) - grazing occultation reports only. The addresses above are new and supercede those given in the ON article. The information here is more up-to-date and, in cases of differences, supercedes that given in the ON articles. Occultations by objects other than the Moon: James Stamm; 11781 N. Joi Drive; Tucson 85737 (jimstamm@aztec.asu.edu). Although this form can be used for reporting asteroidal occultation and appulse observations, we encourage instead the use of a separate, easier to use IOTA form for this purpose. REPORT EXPLANATION Lower-case letters can now be used in the reports, although it is recommended that capital letters be used for the key letters indicating new positions and observers, and capital letters MUST be used at the start of lines and in the columns for the station code in all lines, and for several other items, as noted below. Blank rows may be left between major blocks (optional). The information for this explanation file has been combined from the ILOC "Use of form for recording occultation observations" and the ILOC "GUIDE TO LUNAR OCCULTATION OBSERVATIONS (1982 March edition)". Some newer informa- tion has been added from David Dunham's article in ON, 6, 148 (1995 June). In general, if a specified decimal point does not control the location of a numerical value, integer numbers should be right-justified, so that the units position is in the right-most position of the field, the tens are in the 2nd from the right, hundreds in the 3rd position from the right, etc. So the number "123", for a 5-position field, -----, would be entered --123, NOT 123--. Alphabetic or alphameric information should in general be left- justified, starting in the left-most position of the field. Use capital letters for quantities in quotes ("Literal") when they are capitalized. Line 1 1-10 Literal "PLACE NAME" 16-76 Place of observation Name of closest city or town Line 2 1- 7 Literal "ADDRESS" 16-76 Address Address of "representative" or observer Line 3 1- 7 Literal "E-MAIL ADDRESS" 16-76 Address Internet Electronic Mail Address of "representative" or observer Line 4 1-14 Literal "REPRESENTATIVE" 16-50 Name Name of "representative" or observer; expedition leader or report preparer for grazing occultations. For graze expedition organizer, columns 16-35 will be used for the Occultation Newsletter summary, unless a separate designation for this is given in a 2nd graze line; see the end of this description. 51-64 Literal "FORMS REQUIRED" 71-73 Yes/no "YES" or " NO" (right-justified) Line 5 1-11 Literal "REPORTED TO" 16-76 Organization or person to Such as ILOC, IOTA, J. Stamm, others which the report is sent Line 6 (ONLY for occultations by objects other than the Moon) 1- 6 Literal "OBJECT" 16-19 Number (if asteroid) Right-justify the number; leave blank if the asteroid is not numbered 21-76 Name or designation Left-justify, start in col. 21 Although, by specifying line 6, this form can be used to report occultations of stars by other Solar System objects, it is better, especially for asteroidal occultations, to use IOTA's simpler Asteroidal Occultation Report Form, which can also be sent by e-mail, for this purpose. Telescopes and Positions 1 Always the letter "T" (must be capital T). 2 Identifying letter, starting with "A", a capital letter corresponding to the small letters used in the heading and the "T" column of the written form. Telescopes and positions A through Z can be used. Use two or more files if there are more than 26 telescopes (stations) in the expedition. 3 Telescope type (R refractor; N Newtonian reflector; C Cassegrain, including Schmidt-Cassegrain; O other (use capital letters); describe on a second line with the same letters in columns 1 and 2, columns 3- 5 blank, and the description in columns 6-76. 4 Telescope mounting (capital E equatorial; capital A altazimuth) 5 Telescope drive (capital D clock driven; capital M manual) 6-10 Telescope aperture in centimeters to 0.1cm. Columns 9-10 can be blank if the aperture is to the nearest cm only. The decimal point must be in column 9 if tenths of a cm are given. 12-17 Telescope focal length, in cm, to 0.1cm. Columns 16-17 can be blank if the focal length is given only to the nearest cm. The decimal point must be in column 16 if tenths of a cm are given. 20-22 Degrees of longitude from Greenwich. 24-25 Minutes of arc of longitude 27-31 Seconds of arc of longitude; hundredths of an arcsecond can be specified, but tenths are sufficient (then column 31 can be blank). The decimal point must be in column 29. 33 Longitude east (E) or west (W) of Greenwich; use capital letters 36-37 Degrees of latitude 39-40 Minutes of arc of latitude 42-46 Seconds of arc of latitude, with the decimal point in column 44, similar to seconds of arc of longitude 48 Latitude North of (N) or South of (S) the equator; capital letters 49-54 Height above mean sea level, in meters, to 0.1m; should be accurate to +/-30m or better. Columns 53 and 54 can be blank if the height is given to the nearest meter. If tenths of a meter are specified, the decimal point must be in column 53. The thousands of meters number must be in col. 49 (0 or blank if the height is less than 1000 meters), the hundreds must be in col. 50, the tens must be in col. 51, and the units must be in col. 52. 55-66 Name or abbreviation of geodetic datum, or other type of coordinates. 67-71 ILOC station code, if known; use only capital letters. 72-76 ILOC telescope code, if known. Observers and Recorders Names of observers and assistants given at the top of the reverse side of the printed form. Not necessary to specify if ILOC has assigned Station/Tel/Obs/Rec codes for this particular combination. 1 Always the letter "O" (must be capital O). 2 Identifying letter, starting with "A", a capital letter corresponding to the small letters used on the printed form. Letters A-Z can be used, thus accommodating up to 26 observers and assistants in one file. 5-30 The observer or recorder's (assistant's) name. 33-37 ILOC station code, if known; use only capital letters. 38-41 ILOC observer code, if known. 43-47 Estimated accuracy of latitude (seconds of arc). Timings All of the event timings, including graze data and any total occultations that might be observed before and after the graze, are recorded in this section, one line per event (including start and end observing lines). 1- 2 Sequential number of the event recorded on the form. Total occultation events can be merged in with graze events and assigned appropriate sequence numbers determined by whether they occurred before or after a graze sequence. The sequential numbers must be right-justified, corresponding to the numbers printed on the left side of ILOC's form for written timings. You are not limited to 20 lines, as on the written form; you can include up to 99 timings in one e-mail file. Use 2 or more files to report 100 or more timings. [It is important that both columns 1 and 2 be filled with numbers; there must not be any blanks. So for timing numbers 1 to 9, a "0" (zero) is necessary in col. 1.] For the data in columns 1 to 53 of the written form (column numbers given at the top of the table), add 2 to the written-form column number to obtain the corresponding column in the e-mail file; details are given below. 3-17 UT date and time, in format YYMMDDHHMMSSSSS, where the decimal point in S occurs between columns 14 and 15. 18 Catalog code for star identification (must be capital letter: R, Robertson Zodiacal Catalog; X, USNO XZ (XZ80 series or XZ94D; D, DM catalogs; A, AGK3; K, USNO K-catalog; P, Eichhorn Pleiades (P) catalog; L, USNO L-catalog; Q, USNO Q-catalog; F, FK5/FK5 Extension; M, PPM Catalog; S, SAO Catalog; O other, specify in the comments). 19-25 Star identifier. Numbers should be right justified except in the zone-catalog (DM, or Durchmusterung; AGK3) IDs, where the zone is given in columns 19-21 (example +19, -00, -22). Due to possible confusion explained in the next sentences, DM numbers should not be used when another identifier is available. CD (Cordoba DM) numbers can exceed 9999 in zones -22 through -30, in which case the leading "1" should be omitted. If DM numbers are used in zones -18 through - 23, the correct DM (SD, CD, CP) should be specified in comments, since SD (southern extension of the BD) and CP (Cape Photographic) can exist in zones -18 through -23, while all three identifiers exist in zones -22 and -23. This should also be specified for the -2 deg. zone, where there may be confusion between BD and SD numbers. 26-30 ILOC Station code if one has been assigned by ILOC; if an ILOC station code has not been assigned, leave this blank. Capital letters must be used. 31-32 ILOC Telescope identifier (see 26-30). 33-34 ILOC Observer identifier (see 26-30). 35-36 ILOC Recorder (assistant) identifier (see 26-30). Can be left blank if both observer and recorder are the same person. 37 Phenomenon (1 disappearance[D] at dark limb; 2 reappearance[R] at dark limb; 3 D at sunlit feature; 4 R at sunlit feature; 5 D in Umbra during a lunar eclipse; 6 R in umbra during a lunar eclipse; 7 blink; 8 flash; 9 miss [no occultation]; 0 other [specify in col. 37 or in comments]). For gradual events (see col. 56), col. 37 disappearance is end of disappearance and reappearance is start of reappearance. 38-39 Method of timing and recording (MR). Can be one or a combination of two from the following. Column 39 is blank if only one method is chosen. (use capital letters: P photoelectric; K key-tapping; S stopwatch; E eye and ear; X chronograph; T tape recorder; C camera and clock; V video camera and recording; O other [specify in comments]). Left-justify this code in column 38. Column 39 is usually left blank, but two codes can be given, if applicable, such as KT or KX. 40 Method of timekeeping (MT). (use capital letters: R radio signal [WWV, CHU, etc.]; C clock adjusted by standard time signal; M some medium that is specified in the comments and accurately related to a standard time signal; T telephone; O other [specify in comments]). Note that local telephone time must not be used in the U.S.A. or Canada, because it can be in error by a few or several seconds. Accurate time signals, from the U. S. Naval Observatory master clock, can be obtained by calling 900-410-8463; the call should be placed via AT&T to ensure use of land lines, which will give an accuracy of a few hundredths of a second, more than sufficient for visual timings. If the call is not made via AT&T, or if the National Bureau of Standards' WWV 303-area-code number are used, the call might (or might not, you would not know) be routed through a geosynchronous satellite, causing a quarter-second delay, which is unacceptable, even for visual timings. In the Washington, DC area, the USNO master clock can be reached with a local call to 202-762-1401, but those outside of the DC toll-free area should not use that number, because it might go through a satellite. Some other nations, such as the U.K., also have accurate time signals avialable by telephone. 41 Personal equation code (PE; this is usually just the observer's reaction time, but also includes any mechanical or electrical delay in the timing process, which is usually negligible compared with the reaction time; use capital letters) - S, the following value of PE has been subtracted from the observed time; E, personal equation, known or unknown, has been eliminated in the method of timing and determination [canceled out], use this for video and photoelectric timings, and no PE value is given; N, PE not known; U, the following value of the PE is known and not yet subtracted. 42-43 Personal equation (PE) value. It can be given in hundredths of a second if either code "S" or "U" is given in column 41. The implied decimal point, not given, preceeds col. 42, which contains the tenths of a second while col. 43 contains the hundredths of a second. Column 43 can be left blank if the PE is only estimated to the nearest tenth of a second, which is often the case. 44-46 Accuracy of the reported time in seconds, as estimated for the combination of the accuracies of timing, timekeeping, position, etc. The decimal point occurs between columns 44 and 45. The following standards can be used to estimate the accuracy (very good 0.1-0.2; good 0.3-0.4; fair 0.5-0.7; poor 0.8-0.9; very poor >0.9). 47 Certainty of event (1, sure of event; 2, possibly spurious; 3, probably spurious). 48-49 Signal-to noise ratio (S/N) for photoelectric observations; it can also be estimated for video or CCD observations. S is the total level or count change, N the amplitude of the noise with star only. The decimal point occurs between columns 48 and 49. 50 Component of a double or unidentified star (X). Use the following codes (capital letters): (W, preceding (west) component; E, following (east) component; N, north component; S, south component; B, brighter component; F, fainter component; U, unidentified star [give an estimate of the cusp angle or P.A. of the event in a comment]; O, other [specify in comments]). 51 Sky condition (seeing) - (1, good; 2, fair; 3, poor). 52 Sky condition (transparency) - (1, good; 2, fair; 3, poor). 53 Remarkable circumstances (1, gradual [not instantaneous] event; 2, dark limb visible; 3, by averted vision; 4, star faint; 5, through thin clouds; 6, many clouds; 7, strong wind; 8, in strong twilight). Enter only the most important code. 54-55 Temperature in degrees centigrade. Give the temperature in the comments if it is below -9C. 56 Other phenomenon. Column 56 on the reverse side of the printed form. The following codes are used in case of gradual, partial, or faint phenomena not included in column 37. Leave column 37 blank (or enter zero) and enter one of the following codes: (1 start of D at dark limb; 2 end of R at dark limb; 3 start of D at sunlit feature; 4 end of R at sunlit feature; 5 start of D in umbra during lunar eclipse; 6 end of R in umbra during lunar eclipse; 7 partial blink; 8 faint flash). 57 Lunar limb code: D for dark limb; B for bright limb (or against sunlit feature or penumbra during lunar eclipse); T, at terminator (considered as B); or U for umbra during lunar eclipse. This is only needed for blinks and flashes, or for column 58 graze end or start observing events or timed conjunctions with lunar mountains and valleys. It corresponds to column 57 on the reverse side of the printed form. 58 Grazing occultation codes (G). Use this column and corresponding codes given below to record a series of events during a grazing occultation. Leave this column blank for total occultations; use it only if you are within 3 arc seconds (generally 6 km) of the predicted northern or southern limit of an occultation. Use the following codes in column 58 for grazing occultations: "6" for a contact event (D, R, blink, or flash) with corresponding event code given in column 37; "7", failed to observe event; "8", started or resumed observing; "9", stopped observing (temporarily or finally). 74-76 Telescope, observer, and recorder codes, respectively, corresponding to columns S1, S2, S3 of the printed form; use capital letters. The Telescope code in col. 74 is equal to the letter in col. 2 of the T (telescopes and positions) line at the top of the file. The observer and recorder code for cols. 75 and 76, respectively, is equal to the letter in col. 2 of the O (observers and recorders) line at the top of the file to identify participants. Column 76 is usually the same as column 75 if a tape recorder or other automatic recorder is used, but in this case, it can be used to specify an assistant. If columns 74-76 are used, then columns 26-36 should be blank. Comments Remarks are usually given on the reverse side of the printed form, as well as eyepiece power and call letters of the standard time station. In the electronic file, comments are entered as a second line for each event, with columns 1-4 blank. Column 5 must NOT be blank. Time station identification is specified in the comments only if it is different from that in the second footing line described at the end of this document. Footing Data The footer consists of two records. This information is used by IOTA only, and should not be included in any files sent to ILOC. Since they are not sent to ILOC, the footer lines can include lower-case letters. The first record is the map information and has the following format: 1 Always the letter "M" (capital M). 2 Blank if the positions for all stations were measured on the same map, in which case only one map line is needed. Else, the telescope/position letter (same as telescope/position letter in column 2 of the telescope/position line) must be specified here. Enter a separate line for each telescope/position line. 4-34 Name or number of the map from which the positions were measured. 36-39 Publication year of the map. 41-51 Scale of the map, left justified (example 1:24000). 53-76 Map publisher (example U.S.G.S.) The second footer record is the graze summary and corresponds to the bottom line on the reverse of the IOTA report form for grazes. The format is follows: 1 Always the letter "G" (capital G). 3- 7 Predicted position angle (PA) of central graze, to 0.1 degree. 9-12 Magnitude of the star to 0.1 magnitude. 14-16 Percent sunlit for Moon. 17 "+" for waxing, '-' for waning phase, "E" for lunar eclipse. 19-21 CA (cusp angle) of central graze; umbral distance during lunar eclipse. 22 "N" for CA measured from the northern cusp, "S" from south cusp, and "U" to indicate umbral distance during lunar eclipse; use capitals. 24-26 Total number of stations in a graze expedition that obtained nonredundant data (not just the number of stations in the file). 27-30 Total number of contact timings made during the expedition, counting 1 for certainty code 1 (certain events), half for certainty code 2 events, and 0 for certainty code 3 events (probably spurious). 32 Minimum (best) sky steadiness code (column 51 of timing line in e- mail file, or col. 49 of written form) of all contacts (or of central graze in the case of only one station having a miss) in the expedition. 34-36 Minimum telescope aperture, in centimeters, reporting any contacts with the minimum sky steadiness given in column 32. 38 "capital C" if the graze is in the "Cassini" region, that is, if most contacts during the graze occurred in regions of the ACLPPP predicted lunar profile defined by codes 2, 3, 4, and 7, or if the Cassini region warning is given on the Grazereg profile. 39-41 Observed shift from the predicted profile used (in seconds of arc; referred to the ACLPPP profile is preferred, if it is available). 42 "N" if the observed shadow was north of the predicted shadow; "S" if the observed shadow was south. Blank if no (0.0) shift was observed; use capitals. 44-46 Watts angle of center of observed events on the profile, to the nearest degree. This is the Watts angle of central graze if the observations are symmetric on the profile, which is usually the case for dark-limb grazes far from a cusp. 48-50 Predicted latitude libration of the graze. It is given to the nearest 0.1 degree without a decimal point (interpreted as between columns 49 and 50). 52-60 Time station call letters, left-justified, for the time station of ultimate reference. If a local AM station was used with a master recording, identify the standard time station here and the AM station in the comments. Use capital letters. 61-76 Specify the type of profile used for determining the shift given in col. 39-42, for example, ACLPPP, preferred when available; Grazereg vers. 3.4 (specify if the unreliable Cassini region message appears); and OCCULT version 2.0. It should be left-justified, that is, should start in col. 61, which should not be blank. A second graze (G) line (optional) can be used to specify the expedition organizer, if it is different from the REPRESENTATIVE in the 3rd line of the header, which has more columns to specify this than are available for the Occultation Newsletter summary. The summary is limited to 20 characters which can be anything you want to specify, maybe to credit the persons who set up the expedition, led the effort in the field, and prepared the report, in case they were different. Using this has an advantage over the REPRESENTATIVE line in that lower-case letters can be used. The format of the 2nd graze line is: 1 Always the letter "G" (capital G). 3- 7 Always "999.9" 9-28 Organizer for the Occultation Newsletter summary. Column 9 must not be blank.