Occultation of A 9th Magnitude Star by the Asteroid Eros

On Tuesday, August 2, 2016, the small asteroid 433 Eros will eclipse a star (HIP 110246) along a path stretching from Europe to Asia. Part of that path crosses northern Iran north of Tehran and perhaps touching the south edge of the Caspian Sea at 20:41:40 UT. This converts to 01:11:40 am in Wednesday August 3. The path is a mere 15 km. The star is magnitude 8.68 and so there will be a 3.4 magnitude drop (as seen visually) for up to a short 1.8 seconds!!

BY: PAUL D. MALEY (INTERNATIONAL OCCULTATION TIMING ASSOCIATION)





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Scientific Competition Transit of Mercury 2016 in Iran

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Department of astrobiology in IOTA/ME started

Department of astrobiology in IOTA/ME is started. The department's goal is to work in different areas of astrobiology and in order to achieve this goal, the department is ready to do research in association with various national and international organisations regarding this multidisciplinary field.

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Aldebaran Lunar Occultation

On Sundaymorning of August 8, 2015 at 2:22 Central time (21:52 UT). Aldebran occultation that is located in the Taurus constellation is observable. Moreover, the phase of moon will be 30 percent, the star visual magnitude will be approximately 0.9, and the occultation will occur from the eastern edge of the moon.
The moon map is particularly useful for reappearance, as it assists in identifying where the star will reappear against recognizable lunar features. The displayed map of the moon is plotted with full allowance for Libration.

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A gift from IOTA/ES

During 5th international workshop on occultation and eclipse in Isfahan, February 2015, Dr. Eberhard Riedel honored us with his presence for improving it.
Influence by wide activities of occultation department, he donated two valuable and useful photometry tools from European IOTA.
Masters and members of IOTA/ME occultation department, thanks to him and IOTA/ES. Also we planned a regular program for effective use of given tools.


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Publication of IOTA/ME members' paper

"Photometry and the Determination of Oscillation Modes for High Amplitude Delta Scuti (HADS) Variable GSC 1566-2802" article by E. Salmanzadeh, S. Zandian, A. Hasanzadeh, S. Zahabi, has published for "New Astronomy" journal.
Four articles from IOTA-ME members' scientific activity have published in journals of Institute for Scientific Information (ISI journals) during last 2 years.

ABSTRACT
CCD photometry observation of a newly discovered, high amplitude Delta Scuti star GSC 1566-2802, with a visible filter, is presented. The observations were carried out at Alborz Observatory located in Mahdasht, Karaj, Iran.
The main goal of this project was to update our knowledge of the periodic variations of the target star. This paper covers three analyses, first calculating a new ephemeris and plotting a new light curve based on 19 times of maxima; then a Fourier analysis of the observed data points which results in determining probable oscillation modes, as well as computing its physical parameters which guide us to its harmonics and pulsation modes.


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