58 research outputs found
A Java Program Generating Barycentric Observer Velocities from JPL Ephemerides
This works presents a program which computes velocities of an Earth-bound
observatory in the reference frame of the barycenter of the solar system. It
feeds from ephemerides files of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to extract the
velocity of the geocenter, optionally with corrections from Earth rotation data
of the International Earth Rotation Service, takes a datum (time and geodetic
location) of the observer as parameters, and processes these data with the
program library of the working group `Standards of Fundamental Astronomy' of
the International Astronomical Union.
The prospective application of the computed velocities is to subtract their
projection onto a pointing direction from observed velocities in a step of data
reduction of astronomic radial velocities.Comment: Version 5: includes scanner for DE440/DE441 and generator for MPC
equatorial coordinate
Astrometry of the main satellites of Uranus: 18 years of observations
We determine accurate positions of the main satellites of Uranus: Miranda,
Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon. Positions of Uranus, as derived from those
of these satellites, are also determined. The observational period spans from
1992 to 2011. All runs were made at the Pico dos Dias Observatory, Brazil.
We used the software called Platform for Reduction of Astronomical Images
Automatically (PRAIA) to minimise (digital coronography) the influence of the
scattered light of Uranus on the astrometric measurements and to determine
accurate positions of the main satellites. The positions of Uranus were then
indirectly determined by computing the mean differences between the observed
and ephemeris positions of these satellites. A series of numerical filters was
applied to filter out spurious data. These filters are mostly based on the
comparison between the positions of Oberon with those of the other satellites
and on the offsets as given by the differences between the observed and
ephemeris positions of all satellites.
We have, for the overall offsets of the five satellites, -29 (+/-63) mas in
right ascension and -27 (+/-46) mas in declination. For the overall difference
between the offsets of Oberon and those of the other satellites, we have +3
(+/-30) mas in right ascension and -2 (+/-28) mas in declination. Ephemeris
positions for the satellites were determined from DE432+ura111. Comparisons
using other modern ephemerides for the solar system -INPOP13c- and for the
motion of the satellites -NOE-7-2013- were also made. They confirm that the
largest contribution to the offsets we find comes from the motion of the
barycenter of the Uranus system around the barycenter of the solar system, as
given by the planetary ephemerides. Catalogues with the observed positions are
provided.Comment: 13 pages, 21 figure
SEXTANT X-Ray Pulsar Navigation Demonstration: Additional On-Orbit Results
The Station Explorer for X-ray Timing and Navigation Technology (SEXTANT) is a technology demonstration enhancement to the Neutron-star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) mission, a NASA Astrophysics Explorer Mission of Opportunity to the International Space Station, launched in June of 2017. In late 2017, SEXTANT successfully completed a first demonstration of in-space and autonomous X-ray pulsar navigation (XNAV). This form of navigation relies on processing faint signals from millisecond pulsars-rapidly rotating neutron stars that appear to pulsate in the X-ray band-and could potentially provide a GPS-like navigation capability applicable throughout the solar-system and beyond. In this work, we briefly review prior SEXTANT results and then present new results focusing on: making use of the high- flux but rotationally unstable Crab pulsar, and using XNAV to estimate position, velocity, and time in the presence of an imperfect local clock
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