Formation of the International Occultation Timing Association/East Asia (IOTA/EA) and occultation observations of asteroid (3200) Phaethon.

Abstract

On 27 August 2023 (UTC), a new organization for occultation observations in East Asia was formed, the International Occultation Timing Association/East Asia (IOTA/EA). The goal of this organization is to promote and disseminate occultation observations in the East Asia region and to make occultation observations a useful tool and a partner for planetary exploration missions and other scientific research. The formation of IOTA/EA was triggered by the stellar eclipse observation campaign of (3200) Phaethon, which is the target of the JAXA DESTINY[Formula: see text] mission. This paper describes IOTA/EA and the Phaethon occultation observation that led to its formation.This article is part of the theme issue 'Major advances in planetary sciences thanks to stellar occultations'.