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Overview of the First Results of the Occultation of Betelgeuse by (319) Leona on 2023 Dec 12


Satellite of Asteroid (5457) Queen's Discovered

For the first time, an asteroid moon has been discovered from an European site using "Citizen Science". Jan Mánek, (IOTA/ES, Czech Astronomical Society) discovered a satellite of the asteroid (5457) Queen's during an observation of a stellar occultation in the Czech Republic on 2023 September 04.

This discovery was confirmed on 2023 September 20 by an observation by Serge Dramonis in Greece. The Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) has published the discovery on 2023 November 16


Call for Observations
Occultation of Betelgeuse by (319) Leona on 2023 Dec 12

A spectacular occultation will take place in southern Europe. Read the full article!


A new extensive SODIS observer manual has been released!


Call for Observations
Occultation by (252) Clementina across Europe, 2023 Mar 17

Asteroid (252) Clementina (14.9 mag) will occult an 14.2 mag star around 02:52 UT on 2023 March 17. A good path coverage of this event if highly desired to confirm an unusually observation of a stellar occultation by this asteroid made in February 2022.

Call for Observations
(216) Kleopatra occults an 11mag star in Europe on 2023 Jan 21

In the evening on January 21th the main-belt asteroid (216) Kleopatra with its moons Alexhelios and Cleoselene will occult the 11 mag star UCAC4 468-000711 (TYC 13-01531-1) for a maximum duration of about 4 seconds. The event is of special interest, because the occultation by Alexhelios can be observed from central Europe and the occultation by Cleoselene from northern Africa.

Call for Observations
(994) Otthild occults a naked-eye star in Europe on 2023 Jan 12

In the evening on January 12th the main-belt asteroid (994) Otthild will occult the 3.9 mag multiple star system 38 Lyncis for a maximum duration of 2.1 seconds.

Workshop about Tangra and AOTA on 5th of Nov 2022 in Berlin or per ZOOM

The IOTA/ES invites you to a workshop on Hristo Pavlov's Tangra and Dave Herald's AOTA on Saturday 5th November 2022, 10:00 CET, at the Archenhold Observatory in Berlin or per ZOOM.


Newest JOA ready for download!


Archive for Older Calls for Observations and Reports


Transcontinental Occultation of a 12m4 star UCAC4 410-143659 by Triton on the 5th/6th of Oct 2017 around 23h50 UTC.
Visible from USA and large parts of Europe

Many stations throughout Europe have recorded the event with telescope of different sizes ranging from 20cm to more than 1 meter diameter. An example of the central flash recorded near the central line in Elvas, Portugal is shown in the following picture. It as been taken with a 27cm telescope and a 12 bit digital CCD camera.
CF of Triton, Elvas Pt
--> A very preliminary lightcurve shows the occultation with the central flash. Exposure time 0.3 seconds. No filter. Copyright W. Beisker, IOTA-ES, 2017

The updates of the predictions of this campaign can be followed here.

Minor Planet Occultations of Bright Stars

Occultations by stars brighter than about 9th mag will be presented in this blog.

Grazing Occultations of Stars by the Moon

A field of professional astronomy between science and beauty
Among all occultation phenomena in the sky grazing occultations of stars by the moon have a very unique character.


TU24 movement

Asteroid TU24
recorded from Munich around 1h 10min UT on 30th Jan 2008. Fast motion (5x). Near miss of 11m9 star TYC 4140-520

Inauguration of IOTA-ES 0.5m portable telescope. It has been named "m2"

On the 8th of October an inauguration party has been held at the Archenhold observatory in Berlin. Members of IOTA-ES including the board of directors celebrated the inauguration with champagne and sausages.
The first real observation with the instrument had been the successful observation of the occultation by Pluto on the 19th of July 2016. It will still take some more time, to finish some minor work and to write the operation instructions. But in the near future it can be booked by IOTA members for observation projects.

Successful observation of a Chariklo occultaton in Namibia with the 0.5m portable instrument m2.

On the 9th of April the m2 instrument was used by IOTA-ES member Mike Kretlow as part of an international campaign in cooperation with the EU research project LuckyStar to observe the occultation of UCAC4-294-211208 (14m) by Chariklo in Namibia. Despite poor weather situation, the occultation could be recorded using a Raptor camera with 0.08 sec exposure time. This was the first "Out of Europe" use of m2.

More positive observations came from a IOTA-ES member (Karl-Ludwig Bath) observing at the IAS observatory (Hakos). One more station operated by Jean-Luc Dauvergne was successful too. 3 out of 6 deployed stations got data, the other failed due to unfavorable weather conditions.
A very preliminary lightcurve shows the central body near its maximal diameter and the rings of Chariklo as well.

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The XLIII European Symposiuon on Occultation Projects will be held in Stuttgart, Germany, from the 23rd to 27th of August 2024


The XLII European Symposion on Occultation Projects was held in Armagh Observatory, Northern Ireland

from the the 15th to 19th of September 2023.

The Journal for Occultation Astronomy

is now free for all!

Call for Observations
Occultations of Stars by Minor Planets


Call for Observations
Actual Predictions for TNOs, Centaurs and Trojans etc.

In the frame of the European-funded Lucky Star project, a webpage with actual predictions of occultations of TNOs, Centaurs and Trojans etc. had been developed by Josselin Desmars from Bruno Sicardy's team.

Reporting Lunar Occultations

You have to know, how to report lunar occultations! Your reports have to be sent to the email address lunoccult@iota-es.de.


For Occultwatcher Users
European Feed for Lunar Occultations of Double Stars

A "Lunar Occultations Add-in" for "OccultWatcher" to get interesting lunar occultations of double and suspected double stars.

How many photons do you get from a star?


GPS ... Where am I ?

Positionsbestimmung mit GPS und Karte... in German

The Artificial Night Sky Brightness

for Occultation Observing Stations in Europe