Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
May 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009iau...261.0604m&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, IAU Symposium #261. Relativity in Fundamental Astronomy: Dynamics, Reference Frames, and Data Ana
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
Planetary and lunar ephemerides have been improved over the past century by many orders of magnitude. It is expected that they will continue to improve in the future. The improvements come from more accurate observational data, from increased and refined modeling of the gravitational equations of motion, and from the ability to numerically integrate the equations of motion. Present-day ephemerides have the accuracy to be able to test a number of proposed possible modifications to the presently accepted laws of gravitation. In the future, with further improved accuracies, the ephemerides will be able to test increasingly subtle modifications.
Experiments show that the Voyager range residuals at Uranus and Neptune, reported by Anderson et al. (1995), are fully consistent with other observational data and with present-day ephemerides; they do not require a modification to the ephemerides.
The modification to the laws of gravitation which is usually quoted to explain the Pioneer Anomaly, that of a constant acceleration of 8.74 x 10**(-10) m/sec**2 directed toward the sun, added to each planet's acceleration, has been shown to be completely inconsistent with the planetary ephemerides. A suggested alternative form, where the acceleration is proportional to the planet's radial velocity, is marginally acceptable, but only when applied to just the planets past Saturn. A further form, where the acceleration is proportional to the planet's radial velocity squared, is acceptable to the planets from Saturn outward. In none of the cases that were tested, can the force modifications be applied to Jupiter: the changes in the solution parameters used to adjust the ephemerides become totally unacceptable.
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