A new reduction of USNO photographic plates of the Martian satellites

V Robert (1, 2) , Dan Pascu (3) , Jean-Eudes Arlot (2) , V. Lainey (2)

1 IPSA - Institut Polytechnique des Sciences Avancées
2 IMCCE - Institut de Mécanique Céleste et de Calcul des Ephémérides
3 Retraité

Thanks to the new technologies, a new astrometric reduction of old photographic plates can provide a better knowledge of the orbital motion of planetary satellites. In the cadre of the FP7 european project, USNO plates were digitized with the new generation DAMIAN scanning machine. The procedure was applied to various photographic plates and in particular to the USNO photographic plates of the Galilean satellites. The astrometric results are the most precise. Here we consider a set of a few hundred photographic plates of the Martian satellites, taken at the USNO, and covering the years 1969-1997. A specific procedure was developed to obtain a high precision and we expect an accuracy better than 100 mas in (RA,Dec) positions of each moon. Since the position of Mars may also be deduced from the observed RA and Dec positions of Phobos and Deimos, we can also assess the accuracy of Mars' ephemeris. First astrometric results will be presented.

Domaines: Planétologie et astrophysique de la terre [astro-ph.EP]

V Robert, Dan Pascu, Jean-Eudes Arlot, V. Lainey. A new reduction of USNO photographic plates of the Martian satellites. American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #44, Oct 2012, Reno, United States. ⟨hal-01137763⟩