What's New
Release notes for IOTA Hub
July 2026
New Features
Occult Watcher Cloud (OWC) integration
In collaboration with Hristo, events now automatically link to a matching OWC prediction (if it exists), pulling in the default prediction, the list of signed-up observers, and their reports. Each event page shows a merged "observer roster" combining who signed up on OWC with who has actually uploaded to the Hub, so it's clear at a glance who still owes data.
- Events automatically exit the "waiting" state once every OWC sign-up is accounted for and all files are uploaded.
- When uploading an observation, the Hub previews which event you'll be attaching to before you submit, allowing the user to manually connect to another OWC event, if needed.
- Reviewers/coordinators can look up any OWC observer to see every event they've signed up for and which ones are still outstanding.
- When an event in IOTA Hub is linked to OWC, the email addresses of observers signed up for that event are shared privately with IOTA Hub so that reviewers can follow up about their observations. This lets a reviewer trigger an email from IOTA Hub to the observer requesting their data for the event. Emails are shared for all signed-up observers regardless of their public OWC email-sharing preference, and are visible only to IOTA Hub reviewers. This is currently configured to only allow 1 email per 7 days so as not to annoy people.
- Big thanks to Hristo for the collaboration and for adding some API endpoints to support this integration!
Reworked user interface and file handling for Event pages
It's now easier to see all of the details for an event from a single page (the event page) rather than needing to click out to individual observation pages to see observation details. Now, it's all on the event page. Individual observation pages still exist, it's just easier to see everything from the same page now.
Subscriptions & email notifications
You can now be notified (in-app via the bell in the header, by email, or both) about activity that matters to you. Email notifications are off by default; configure notifications from the "Subscriptions" page (in the left sidebar).
- Follow an OWC tag — get notified when a new observation is uploaded to the Hub for any event carrying a tag you follow.
- Subscribe to an event — follow all activity on a specific event (state changes, new comments, new observations), even if you aren't the observer or reviewer.
- Follow an asteroid — get notified whenever a new event is created in the Hub for an asteroid you care about (you're also automatically subscribed to that event).
- You're also automatically kept in the loop on your own observations, events you're assigned to review, and comments on either.
Automated validation checks for reviewers
When an event enters review, the Hub automatically cross-checks identity fields (asteroid, star, catalog, date) across the report spreadsheet, OBS XML, VizieR .dat, occelmnt, and lightcurve headers. Reviewers see a warning before approving an event with unresolved issues.
Smaller updates
- VizieR (.dat) file no longer requested from observers — Observers no longer need to upload the VizieR/.dat file when submitting an observation. It's now created during the review process.
- Comments — Events and observations now have a comment section.
- Light mode — There is now a light theme, toggled from the header.
- "Insufficient evidence" event status — A terminal status alongside "lone negative", for events where there isn't enough evidence to call an occultation but "lone negative" isn't correct.
- Disabled actions now show why they're unavailable (mouseover tooltips) instead of just disappearing.
- Filter by what an event is waiting on — The events list can now be filtered by "waiting for files" vs. "waiting for observations," so you can see exactly what's outstanding.
- More descriptive event titles in breadcrumbs and headers.
- Download links are generated at click time, fixing occasional "expired link" errors.
Behind the scenes
- More comprehensive test suite — Automated tests are now more comprehensive, to reduce bugs and make sure fixed bugs stay fixed.
- Rebuilt permissions system — Access is now driven by granular permissions granted through groups rather than a single role per user, so people can be given exactly the access they need. The existing observer / reviewer / coordinator groups behave as before. Admins can see and manage a user's effective permissions from the user admin screen.
- File handling consolidation — Refactored file upload paths for more maintainable codebase.
- Bulk import improvements — Various improvements to the bulk import system to improve bulk/historic import job file classification.