MEASURING THE MASS OF SOLAR SYSTEM PLANETS USING PULSAR TIMING
- CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, Australia Telescope National Facility, P.O. Box 76, Epping, NSW 1710 (Australia)
- Department of Astronomy and Radio Astronomy Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States)
- Swinburne University of Technology, P.O. Box 218, Hawthorn, Victoria 3122 (Australia)
- Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA (United States)
- National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Charlottesville, VA 22901 (United States)
- Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL (United Kingdom)
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 4800 Oak Grove Dr, Pasadena, CA 91109-8099 (United States)
- Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy, Curtin University, Bentley, WA 6102 (Australia)
- Max-Planck-Institut fuer Radioastronomie, Auf dem Huegel 69, 53121 Bonn (Germany)
- Franklin and Marshall College, 415 Harrisburg Pike, Lancaster, PA 17604 (United States)
- Physics Department, Lafayette College, Easton, PA 18042 (United States)
High-precision pulsar timing relies on a solar system ephemeris in order to convert times of arrival (TOAs) of pulses measured at an observatory to the solar system barycenter. Any error in the conversion to the barycentric TOAs leads to a systematic variation in the observed timing residuals; specifically, an incorrect planetary mass leads to a predominantly sinusoidal variation having a period and phase associated with the planet's orbital motion about the Sun. By using an array of pulsars (PSRs J0437-4715, J1744-1134, J1857+0943, J1909-3744), the masses of the planetary systems from Mercury to Saturn have been determined. These masses are consistent with the best-known masses determined by spacecraft observations, with the mass of the Jovian system, 9.547921(2) x10{sup -4} M {sub sun}, being significantly more accurate than the mass determined from the Pioneer and Voyager spacecraft, and consistent with but less accurate than the value from the Galileo spacecraft. While spacecraft are likely to produce the most accurate measurements for individual solar system bodies, the pulsar technique is sensitive to planetary system masses and has the potential to provide the most accurate values of these masses for some planets.
- OSTI ID:
- 21452817
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 720, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/720/2/L201; ISSN 2041-8205
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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