Open AccessCCD astrometric observations of Phoebe in 2005–2008
Author(s) -
Qiao R. C.,
Xi X. J.,
Dourneau G.,
Shen K. X.,
Cheng X.,
Tang Z. H.,
Wang S. H.,
Zhang H. Y.,
Qi Z. X.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.18214.x
Subject(s) - ephemeris , astrometry , saturn , satellite , astronomy , physics , geology , geography , geodesy , stars , planet
Astrometric observations of Phoebe, the faint ninth satellite of Saturn, with a visual magnitude of 16.5, were performed during four successive oppositions in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. A total of 1173 new observed positions of Phoebe, representing more than 50 per cent of the observational data now available, were obtained during 30 nights of observation involving six missions and three telescopes. A comparison of our observed positions with the JPL Phoebe ephemeris shows the high quality of our observations, which have an accuracy of about 100 mas. Moreover, our observations appear to be consistent with this ephemeris within only about 50 mas.