Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
May 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009iau...261.0701m&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
We are engaged in a long-term program to obtain and interpret high-precision radar range measurements of a number of near-Earth objects (NEOs) that have trajectories reaching deep inside the gravitational well of the Sun. Objects in our sample have perihelion shift rates 1.5 to 2.5 times that of Icarus (10''/cy) and span a wide range of inclinations and semi-major axes, allowing for an unambiguous separation of general relativistic and solar oblateness effects. Four objects have been observed at Arecibo on at least two apparitions since 2000, with typical uncertainties of a few hundred meters.
This program is expected to provide the first purely dynamical measurement of the oblateness of the Sun (J2 at the 10e-8 level) and to constrain the Eddington parameter beta at the 10e-4 level. Although our objects are selected to minimize Yarkovsky orbital drift, we also anticipate measuring Yarkovsky drift rates, which are orthogonal to the GR/J2 signatures.
In addition to the asteroid data, we seek to re-analyze existing Mercury radar astrometry, which is warranted by the success of the MESSENGER mission. First, the flybys reveal a possible discrepancy of hundreds of meters between ephemeris predictions and the observed position of the planet. Second, new information about the topography of the planet can be used to reduce the impact of systematic errors in the analysis of radar ranges.
Giorgini Jon D.
Margot Jean-Luc
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