Some statistics between 1997 and 2006 - Updated: 2007/05/10

This site presents online the European results of stellar occultations by asteroids, and sometimes occultations by satellites of outer planets. Sometimes too, observations or campaigns involving European observers outside Europe are added.

These pages are personal pages, not directly affiliated to any organization, and are intended for all the observers.

The main sources to build this data set are the Planoccult mailing list, where European observers post most of the time their reports, and direct exchanges with the observers themselves.

Informations about presentation

All the times are in UT. Observations are presented in reverse chronology.
All geographical coordinates should be expressed in WGS84 datum.
Only positive or negative observations are compiled here, not clouded reports (sorry, too much work). Unless clear positive or special event, reports about events with predicted max duration <1s are stored but not published on these pages.

For one observation, the first line is always :
O+ : positive, O- : negative, O? : uncertain | name of the observer | Start observation | End observation | optics and aperture in mm | method | country | longitude | latitude | altitude in m | long lat datum (W : WGS84) alt datum (W : WGS84, S : Mean Sea Level) |

If the occultation is positive, or sometimes uncertain (O?), the second line is :
duration in sec. | time of Disappearance | accuracy in sec. | time of Reappearance | accuracy in sec. | time source | reaction time for D in sec. (if visual) | reaction time for R in sec. (if visual) | A : reaction time applied, N : no reaction time applied (if visual) |

If multiple events are observed, they are processed as separate observations, but with a numerotation added in the first field (O+1, O+2...).

If necessary, other lines in italic are added for comments.

The characters |; specify the end of one observation description.

When there is at least one positive (or uncertain) observation for an event, a single line flagged P+ is present - giving mid-time, longitude and latitude for a point along the predicted path.

Abbreviations used are :


B : Binoculars                      CCD : CCD or CMOS imaging
E : naked Eye                       PHG : photographic recording
L : Lens optics (refractor)         PHM : photometer
M : Mirror optics (reflector)       VID : video recording
                                    VIS : visual
                                    WEB : webcam recording

GPS   : GPS receiver (no more info or only NMEA), unreliable method
GPS+  : GPS NMEA with display correction applied
GPS++ : GPS one Pulse Per Second
PHONE : Phone time signal (wired phone)
RAD   : Radio time signal (no more info or intermittent radio control. clock)
RAD+  : Intermittent radio controlled clock updated just before event
RAD++ : Permanent radio time signal
LAC   : Local atomic clock
NTP   : Network Time Protocol (no more info or Windows sys), unreliable method
NTP+  : Permanent NTP synchro under Linux/Unix sys
NTP++ : Permanent NTP synchro with local atomic clock (observatories)
TTV   : TV teletext display, unreliable method
Note: for the best accuracy, only GPS++, PHONE, RAD++, NTP++ or LAC should be
used.