Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link
(CALL)

Working Together: Making the Best Use of the CALL Site

The CALL site was started with the hope of helping asteroid observers maximize the use of limited resources. The "reservation" system allows observers to notify others when an object is being worked and request help when it's needed. There are so many asteroids and so little time, meaing that unnecessary duplication of efforts is bad for many reasons.

There's been an increasing trend where observers do not post a notification before starting to work an asteroid, doing so only after they have several nights or they have submitted for publication. In the meantime, other observers, not knowing of the ongoing work, have started to observe a target in good faith expectation that they are not needlessly duplicating data, only to get word after a few nights' efforts of that other work. This is leading to a growing frustration among observers and greatly diminishes the effectiveness of the CALL site.

So, please, be kind to your fellow observers and post notifications before you start working a target. If you give up on the target, delete the notification so that others will not be discouraged from working it. 

Also, before you post a notification, please use the search feature, which is not limited to the past 120 days, to see if your chosen target has been posted before. If so and the work is not recent, consider contacting the observer before you start working the asteroid.