Photometry and position observations of Saturnian satellites during their mutual eclipses and occultations in 1995 performed at the Observatories in Russia and Kazakhstan

Abstract

Abstract. Photometry of mutual eclipses and occultations of planetary satellites is a powerful technique to explore these bodies. Observations of these rare events are a source of much precise information. In 1995 the Celestial Mechanics Department of the Sternberg Astronomical Institute (SAI) has organized the observations of mutual eclipses and occultations of Saturnian satellites on a number of observatories of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) -the former Soviet Union (FSU). The ephemerides of satellites and their observing conditions have been computed beforehand and mailed these data to many observatories of CIS. The Crimean laboratory (CL) of the Sternberg Astronomical Institute, two observatories of the Fesenkov Astrophysical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan (FAI AS RK) in Almaty, and the Main Astronomical Observatory of Russian Academy of Sciences (MAO RAS) in Pulkovo took part in observations. A photoelectric photometer was used in CL of SAI, a CCD was employed to secure satellite images in FAI AS RK, and both CCD and photographic plates were used in MAO RAS. As a result of this observing campaign, photometric data and light curves were obtained for three mutual eclipses and occultations of Saturnian satellites. A number of position observations made allowed us to measure relative coordinates of satellites. Astrometric information has already been derived from photometric data. The mutual apparent positions of satellites were calculated with an accuracy Send offprint requests to: N.V. EmelianovResults of observations available in electronic form at CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html of 0. 002 − 0. 003. In this paper observations are described and the parameters characterizing the observed phenomena are given. The results of observations are available in electronic form.

Astrometric results of observations of mutual occultations and eclipses of the Galilean satellites of Jupiter in 2003

“…One of us has been systematically developing such a method for reduction of photometry in a number of papers (Emelianov et al 1999(Emelianov et al , 2000Emel'yanov 2000Emel'yanov , 2003. According to this method, function S (t) is to be written in the form S (X(t), Y(t)), where X(t) and Y(t) are the projections of the differences of planetocentric Cartesian coordinates of the two satellites onto the plane of the event.…”

“…Positional data can be derived from the photometry of satellites during such events. For a description of specific features of the mutual occultations and eclipses of satellites and for brief reviews of observations see Aksnes & Franklin (1976), Aksnes et al (1984), Arlot (1984), Franklin et al (1991), Arlot et al (1992), Vasundhara (1994), Emel'yanov (1995), Emelianov et al (1999), Kaas et al (1999), Emel'yanov (2000), Emelianov et al (2000), Emel'yanov & Vashkov'yak (2001), and Vasundhara et al (2003).…”

Celestial Shadows

“…Besides these results, several professional observatories took part, including the Mauna Kea 2.24-m telescope (Tholen 1999 ), the 1.8-m Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope on Mt. Graham, Arizona (Hubbard et al 1996 ) and several observatories in Russia and Kazakhstan (Emelianov et al 1999 ).…”

Mutual positions of the Galilean satellites of Jupiter from photometric observations during their mutual occultations and eclipses in 1997

“…Function S(X a , Y a ) is determined by the model of mutual phenomena and the theory of satellite motion. The dependence S on X a , Y a , has been analyzed by Thuillot & Morando (1990), described by Emel'yanov (1995), Emel'yanov et al (1997) and Emel'yanov (1999).…”

“…A total of four light curves of the mutual phenomena of Saturnian satellites have been obtained. The techniques used and the results of astrometric reduction of satellite photometry have been published by Emel'yanov et al (1997). This was our first experience in reducing such observations.…”