Occult status Current version – stable and reliable Current beta version – has only 3 minor fixes. Details are in the List Version Changes menu option.

Occult future revisions Next major revision will be associated with a revision of the main star catalogue used for asteroidal predictions. Will also be keeping an eye out for useful downloads that will enhance data availability. If you come across a useful dataset for our activities, let me know! I may need to add functionality to handle the situation where the WDS file on Vizier has not been Gzipped.

Occult data sets Updates of asteroidal observations, lunar observations, and binary asteroid discoveries, continues smoothly. [Monitor the IAU announcements for binary asteroids] Periodic update of XZ catalogue for doubles and variables is almost routine. Main issue is to coordinate with updates with Brian Loader (NZ)

Asteroid predictions Good to see star catalogue comparison is being used. Caution – cannot assume any one catalogue is always the best. Always need to apply judgement PPMX may be more reliable on average PPMXL subset incorporating UCAC3 & CMC14 has been withheld 12 months. May include UCAC4. This subset will likely be the basis for future OCCULT catalogues

Asteroid observations Data collection is working well. Total number of events recorded to date = In 2010 to date, 167 [total for 2009 = 211]. Main issue that causes problems – situations where dubious recordings are interpreted to give definitive observations. 2 nd issue: need to ensure time base integrity – especially with multi-station deployments.

Lunar occultations Main achievement – completion of Archiving of past observations. Huge task... But now all past observations are safe. Double star discoveries and measurements an important new area of lunar occultations Occult Watcher has capability to announce lunar occs of interesting doubles – but needs someone to generate a feed for the region (eg Nth America). If new double found, follow-up observations can usually be made the following month in Europe or Japan – but needs global coordination.

Lunar occultations Lunar occultations also detecting errors in Hipparcos data for some stars. For asteroidal occultations, can be useful to see if the star has been observed in lunar occultation - & check reliability of position/proper motion. Occult has capability to assess [Lunar Observations, Analyse for star position]. Should treat as supplemental to Star Catalogue comparison.

Lunar grazes Dave Gault will be talking about the issues later.... There are still quite a few observed grazes that have not been reported...