Astronomical League Occultation Program Status

1. Steve Conard Willow Oak Observatory, Gamber, MD International Occultation Timing Association (IOTA) Oct 19, 2012 Astronomical League Occultation Program Status

2. History • I 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 • Plan was to present this at the summer 2012 AL meeting in Chicago

3. AL Response • Contacted Aaron Clevenson (one of AL program coordinators) • He encouraged us to go forward with it • Sent Aaron our proposed requirements, and made some changes based on his feedback • Completed most of the requirements for submission • Main form completed • Missing website design and pin design

4. Program Requirements Summary • 7 successful observations of asteroid events, with one being a positive • 3 must have the asteroid visible and be recorded or sketched as it approaches the star • 15 total lunar occultations • 1 must be a double star • 3 must be reappearances • 3 lunar grazes successfully observed • 1 must have had multiple events

5. AL Response • Contacted AL President Carroll Iorg to get on the agenda • By the time I found out what day I would need to be there, it was too late to obtain the free airline tickets that I had hoped to use--due to being week of July 4th • Carroll had also warned us that we were unlikely to be approved this year because of the number of other submissions • AL is limited by budget, and this limits the number of new clubs per year • These two issues caused me to cancel going to Chicago • The AL considered our proposal anyway in my absence

6. AL Response • We were not approved for this year • We were encouraged to apply again next year • Next year’s AL meeting is in the Atlanta area

7. Question • Do we want to continue to pursue this?