Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 137, 1-5

1994-1996 CCD astrometric observations of Saturn's satellites and comparison with theories

Qiao RongChuan - Shen KaiXian - Liu JianRong¹ - D. Harper²

Send offprint request: Qiao RongChuan

1 - Shaanxi Astronomical Observatory, The Chinese Academy of Science, Lintong, Shaanxi 710600, China
United Laboratory for Optical Astronomy, The Chinese Academy of Science, China
2 - Royal Greenwich Observatory, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 OEZ, UK

Received June 29; accepted November 20, 1998

Abstract:

In this paper, we publish 451 measurements of positions of the major satellites of Saturn made in 1994, 1995 and 1996 using a CCD detector attached to the 1.56 m reflector at the Sheshan Station near Shanghai. The observations we have made include the seven major satellites exclusive of the outermost satellite Iapetus. In our implementation the four contemporary theories were used for astrometric calibration of the CCD. Analysis of the data as inter-satellite positions shows that these observations of Tethys, Dione, Rhea and Titan have rms residuals of 0.08 arcsec, which are comparable in quality to the observations made by Harper et al. (1997). For the faint satellites including Mimas, Enceladus and Hyperion we have also obtained the observations in equivalent precision to the photographic observations.

Key words: planets and satellites: satellites of saturn -- astrometry