Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 136, 445-451

CCD observations of Nereid and a new orbital determination

C.H. Veiga¹, R. Vieira Martins¹, and Cl. Le Guyader²

1 - Observatório Nacional, Rua Gal. José Cristino 77, 20921-400 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
e-mail: cave@on.br or rvm@on.br
2 - Institut de Mécanique Céleste et de Calcul des Éphémérides, 77 avenue Denfert-Rochereau F-75014 Paris, France
e-mail: Claude.Leguyader@bdl.fr

Received September 14, 1998; accepted January 8, 1999

Abstract:

229 CCD positions of Nereid taken between 1993 and 1998 are presented. Many of the observations were taken near the periapsis. Considering also the other published positions we have a good distribution of the observations on the eccentric orbit of the satellite. Using a numeric integration method we fitted all these observations in order to determine one state vector for the orbit. The observed minus calculated standard deviation for all observations is 0$.\!\!^{\prime\prime}$23, and for our observations it is 0$.\!\!^{\prime\prime}$16.

Key words: astrometry -- planets and satellites: Nereid