PROCEDURES

The proposed objectives for each month, along with global and local predictions for each observer, can be obtained at the PROGRAMMES link.

The information includes details of the occultation, such as UTC time, position angle of the event on the lunar limb, circumstances of the Moon at the moment of the occultation, etc. Additionally, in order to coordinate the collective observation of a specific event, charts are provided indicating in which geographical regions each event will be visible. 

Each observation consists of recording the occultation with the aim of obtaining a light curve, upon which measurements can be made. Except for specific difficult cases (see below), the observer should reduce his/her own observations, obtaining a light curve that should be submitted to the coordinators, along with additional information.

The following flowchart below summarises possible submission scenarios, from the recording of images (green box at top-left) by the observer to the estimation of contact times (green box at bottom-right):

orange path: direct submission of images from observer to coordinators (by email or massive file transfer service)

yellow path: submission of light curve (standard method)

blue path: submission of light curve and estimated contact times

Software used in each step (Tangra, LiMovie, PyOTE, AOTA, etc.) are indicated.