Photoelectric photometry of the mutual events of the Galilean satellites in 1985

Journal Article · Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1989 · Stroll. Astron.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5823745

Westfall, J E

This report analyzes 30 amateur photoelectric observations of 25 separate mutual events, both eclipses and occultations, involving the Galilean satellites of Jupiter in 1985. Parabolic least-squares regression fits to the observed light curves were used to determine the amount and time of maximum light loss. The maximum light losses were in reasonable agreement with the Aksnes and Franklin (1984) predictions. Small but statistically significant differences between the observed times and the times predicted by Aksnes and Franklin and Gregorio (1983) were found for most events. As compared with Io, Europa tended to be about 29 + or - 2 seconds, and Ganymede about 26 + or - 6 seconds, ahead in its orbital motion. 8 references.

• Research Organization: Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers, Las Cruces, NM (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5823745
• Journal Information: Stroll. Astron.; (United States), Vol. 33
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
JUPITER PLANET
SATELLITES
PHOTOMETRY
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
ECLIPSE
LEAST SQUARE FIT
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
REGRESSION ANALYSIS
MATHEMATICS
MAXIMUM-LIKELIHOOD FIT
NUMERICAL SOLUTION
PLANETS
STATISTICS
640107* - Astrophysics & Cosmology- Planetary Phenomena