Transcript report from the vice president

REPORT FROM THE VICE
PRESIDENT FOR 2010
PAUL MALEY
IOTA ANNUAL MEETING
DECEMBER 5, 2010
INTERNATIONAL ASTEROID
OCCULTATION OUTREACH
• EXPEDITION TO GREECE OCTOBER 31, 2010
-LEONA OCCULTATION FROM ATHENS: MISS
OBSERVED
• EXPEDITION TO MOLDOVA NOVEMBER 3,
2010
- TISIPHONE/THISBE OCCULTATIONS
NOVEMBER 3: FOGGED OVER
· EXPEDITION TO IRAQI KURDISTAN PLANNED
FOR 2011
PAST ASTEROID OCCULTATION
OUTREACH ATTEMPTS
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PANAMA
EL SALVADOR
GUATEMALA
AUSTRALIA
MACEDONIA
BOSNIA-HERCEGOVINA
*CANADA
JAPAN
CHINA
SOUTH AFRICA
TANZANIA
LIBYA
*GUYANA
BRAZIL
FRENCH GUIANA
BARBADOS
MEXICO
*CUBA
AFGHANISTAN
*indicates positive occultation observed
OCCULTATION EXPEDITION FUNDING
• FUNDING DISCUSSION WITH SOUTHWEST
RESEARCH INSTITUTE (SwRI) INITITATED IN
2009
• 3 PROPOSALS SUBMITTED by SwRI to NASA
and NSF, LATE 2009-MID 2010, with IOTA
participants
• STATUS: One awarded, 2 pending … pilot
funding for some events may occur in 2011
SwRI Collaboration
• This is with Bill Merline of SwRI as PI of the
projects, and involves asteroid sizes/shapes
and asteroid satellites for Main Belt and Trojan
asteroids
• This is NOT the same work being led by Marc
Buie, also of SwRI, regarding occultations of
Pluto and/or KBOs, for which he has solicited
IOTA help. No funding is expected for the
Pluto/KBO effort at this moment. BUT, your
help is needed, encouraged, and appreciated!
PROPOSAL #1
• This award, from NSF, has been approved, and
covers 3 years (12-mo each) starting 9/1/2010.
It is mainly a grant to make AO observations for
asteroids for shape/size/pole and to search for
satellites. A small portion of the grant is to cover
travel-only costs for a few occultation expeditions
with a goal of increasing the number of chords on
certain key events (among the 200 asteroids total
that can get above 0.10" in angular size).
PROPOSAL RATIONALE
• “4.3.3 Stellar Occultations
A well-covered stellar occultation of an asteroid offers
the same information as an adaptive optics image, a
long and short dimension and an orientation at a given
instant from an elliptical fit of its outline. Thus, we can
directly insert occultation data into our datasets to find
triaxial ellipsoid dimensions and a rotational pole for
an asteroid. Furthermore, the outlines of asteroids
produced by stellar occultations can fit into the
lightcurve inversion models, since they provide
detailed shapes at a given instant.
The KOALA shape modeling method
KOALA – new shape modeling tool
See Benoit Carry's talk #46.02
REVIEWER COMMENT
• “The proposing team points out that very few asteroids
have occultation diameters/shapes. That is because
occultations are rare, and occultation expeditions are
difficult to organize. Following through on data collection,
analysis and publication is another labor-intensive
enterprise. The Team's request for travel funds only to
obtain this data together with a largely amateur group
(IOTA) is somewhat unrealistic.”
• “The panel noted, however, that the incorporation of
amateur data into the analysis poses substantial challenges
(related to assessing the quality and reliability of the
contributed observations). The proposal would have
benefited from more detail on this aspect.”
PI Merline’s synopsis of review
• More than travel funds will be needed to synthesize and understand the
data sets. We could not propose and probably would not have received
funds for more than limited travel (other worthy programs were turned
down entirely, so it is crucial to make the best use of our funds). Your help
in interpreting the data will be vital to the possibility of more funding.
• There was much concern about consistency of observations and
understanding errors in positions and timing. It will also be key that
everyone takes this as strongly as possible.
• There was concern that in the past there may have been too much of a
tendency to clump observers near the predicted track to try to “catch” the
event. But the track uncertainties must not be taken lightly and we need a
good spacing of observers. Valid or not, that was a concern. But we say
that a “miss” is as good as a “hit” for defining size/shape.
• We have highlighted the extreme value of IOTA observers for the purpose
of public outreach and education – mixing with the community for help
and teaching them a bit about astronomy at the same time! It is also vital
that this public interface continue.
Potential Major Expedition List
Asteroid UT Date Star magnitude
• Parthenope Jan 26 10.6
• Aurelia
Feb 2 8.8
• Feronia
Mar 9 8.2
• Iris
Apr 30 9.9
• Europa
Jul 4 10.0
• Antiope
Jul 19 6.7
• Prokne
Aug 6 8.9
PROPOSAL #2
• There is another proposal (NASA Planetary
Astronomy) that has been said to be
approved, but it is not yet official. THAT one
covers occultations to search for new satellites
as well as attempt chords on known
satellites. Here the funding for trips is even
smaller. But we hope it will stimulate interest
in these events.
PROPOSAL #3
• This one does not entail any funding for new
occultation data. Instead it seeks to combine
existing occultation data with existing AO data
to get better sizes/shapes of asteroids, using
the KOALA method. Of importance are that
IOTA help is sought in finding and interpreting
existing occultation data and, what’s more,
the occultation data will contribute to key new
science results, leading to better
understanding of asteroid sizes, shapes,
densities, compositions. PENDING
WAY FORWARD
• STAND BY FOR NEWS OF PROPOSAL
APPROVAL
• DETERMINATION BY THE PROFESSIONAL
TEAM AS TO WHICH OPPORTUNITIES ARE
WORTH FUNDING
• ASSESSMENT OF IOTA RESOURCES REQUIRED
ALLOCATION OF FUNDING
• LIKELY FOR ONLY MULTI-STATION EVENTS IN
ORDER TO MAXIMIZE DATA
• PILOT OCCULTATION SUCCESS/FAILURE WILL
DETERMINE WHETHER SUCCESSIVE FUNDING
WILL BE AVAILABLE
• CONCENTRATE ON BRIGHT STAR EVENTS FOR
MIGHTY MINI’S or MIDI’s (see slide 6)
ECLIPSE PLANNING
• EXPEDITION TO CENTERLINE IN AUSTRALIA
NOVEMBER 14, 2012
• SOUTHERN EDGE SITE SCOUTED IN 2010
• EXPEDITION TO CENTERLINE IN UTAH
PLANNED FOR MAY 20, 2012