Steve Conard Ted Blank International Occultation Timing Association (IOTA) Oct 05, 2013

 Our reason for trying to get this program accepted has been only to try to get more occultation observers  We need to recruit more participants to have more successful data collection events, through means such as:  Information tables at various astronomy shows  Giving talks at local astronomy clubs and star parties  Using the AL observing program

 Steve proposed this idea to IOTA at the 2010 meeting, and received approval to go forward with it  Developed the requirements for this program (note—these use to be called “clubs” by AL, but this has recently changed)  Had input from a fair number of IOTA members  Not accepted at the 2012 AL meeting  AL recommended we resubmit in 2013

 As Steve was unable to go to the Atlanta meeting, Ted Blank volunteered to go and present to the approval board  Ted also did a general talk on our occultation work at the meeting  The board asked if IOTA could pay for the pins required for the program  Up to the IOTA officers/board to determine if IOTA will fund this  The program, as well as 2 other new programs, was accepted

 Now listed on the AL website:  programhttp:// program  There have been about 4 inquiries to date about requirements  All have indicated they are going to participate

 There has been some misunderstanding of the requirements and how they were arrived at:  7 successful observations of asteroid events, with only one required to be a positive ▪ 3 must have the asteroid visible and be recorded or sketched as it approaches the star  15 total lunar occultations, over 5 different dates ▪ 1 must be a double star ▪ 3 must be reappearances  3 lunar grazes successfully observed ▪ 1 must have had multiple events  There were multiple reviews of these requirements (by a number of officers and other IOTA members, as well as by the AL), and each review resulted in the requirements being simplified