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Dynamical Reference Frame — Current Relevance and Future Prospects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

E.M. Standish Jr.
E.M. Standish Jr.*
Affiliation:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory;California Institute of Technology, JPL 301-150; Pasadena, CA 91011

Abstract

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Planetary and lunar ephemerides are no longer used for the determination of inertial space. Instead, the new fundamental reference frame, the ICRF, is inherently less susceptible to extraneous, non-inertial rotations than would be a dynamical reference frame determined by the ephemerides. Consequently, the ephemerides are now adjusted onto the ICRF, and they are fit to two modern, accurate observational data types: ranging (radar, lunar laser, spacecraft) and VLBI (of spacecraft near planets).

The uncertainties remaining in the inner planet ephemerides are on the order of 1 kilometer, both in relative positions between the bodies and in the orientation of the inner system as a whole. The predictive capabilities of the inner planet ephemerides are limited by the uncertainties in the masses of many asteroids. For this reason, future improvements to the ephemerides must await determinations of many asteroid masses. Until then, it will be necessary to constantly update the ephemerides with a continuous supply of observational data.

Type
Section 1. Celestial Reference System and Frame
Information
International Astronomical Union Colloquium , Volume 180: Towards Models and Constants for Sub-Microarcsecond Astrometry , March 2000 , pp. 120 - 126
Copyright
Copyright © US Naval Observatory 2000

References

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