1994-1996 CCD astrometric observations of Saturn's satellites and comparison with theories

Abstract

In this paper, we publish 451 measurements of positions of the major satellites of Saturn made in 1994, 1995 and 1996 using a CCD detector attached to the 1.56 m reflector at the Sheshan Station near Shanghai. The observations we have made include the seven major satellites exclusive of the outermost satellite Iapetus. In our implementation the four contemporary theories were used for astrometric calibration of the CCD. Analysis of the data as inter-satellite positions shows that these observations of Tethys, Dione, Rhea and Titan have rms residuals of 0.08 arcsec, which are comparable in quality to the observations made by Harper et al. (1997). For the faint satellites including Mimas, Enceladus and Hyperion we have also obtained the observations in equivalent precision to the photographic observations.