On the Accuracy of CCD and Photographic Observations of Asteroids and Their Current Orbit Determinations

Abstract

An application of the Classical Laplacian Method and new Pulkovo AMP-method for current asteroid orbit determinations is given. The CERES software package created at the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy (Russia) was applied to calculate (O-C)-differences for 200 numbered minor planets observed irregularly and quasisimultaneously in 1993 by CCD as well as by photographic techniques at 25 observatories (ESO, SERGA, Kitt Peak etc.). The accuracy of the observations was estimated by means of the standard error of the average (O-C) differences for each type of observation obtained by each telescope. As a whole the CCD-observations of the numbered minor planets are considerably more precise in comparison to the photographic ones. Some results are given in Table 1.

CCD-observations of asteroids: Accuracy and the nearest perspectives for application of the Laplacian orbit determination method

“…The accuracy of observations was estimated by means of standard error of average (O-C) for each type of observations obtained by each telescope. As a rule, the CCD-observations of the numbered minor planets are considerably more exact than the photo ones [1]. This conclusion was confirmed later by analysis of an accuracy of the first and the second derivatives obtained from similar sets of CCD and photo observations of unnumbered asteroids.…”