Authors: Colas, F.
Year: 1992
Title: Astrometric observations of Phobos and Deimos during the 1988 opposition of Mars
Journal: Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement Series
Volume: 96
Number: 3
Pages: 485-495
Keywords: Mars, Phobos, Deimos , observations, data, photographic, position
Abstract: Observatory: Pic-du-Midi. Observer: Colas F. Telescope: 1 m. Recepteur: CCD. Periode: 1988. 813 intersatellite observations of Phobos and Deimos have been made during the 1988 opposition of Mars with the 1-meter telescope at Pic-du-Midi Observatory. These data represent one third of all the Earth-based observations; what is more, the accuracy is similar to that of the best photographic measurements (Colas & Arlot 1991). In this paper we describe the acquisition, the methods of reduction, and the entire data set. A special effort has been made to estimate the errors for each night. For this purpose, we use numerical simulations to study the influence of the read-out noise and of the sky-background on the measurement of a star-like object on a CCD array. These observations with a good error estimation represent an important set of data for anyone who wants to build a new theory of the motion of the Martian satellites. In addition, we give a method for the estimation of the weight of an observation suitable for any dynamical theory. (NM)
%F: AA(Bureau des Longitudes, Paris, France)
Bibliogaphic Code: 1992A%26AS...96..485C
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