Mission Information
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MISSION_NAME |
SATURN SMALL SATELLITE ASTROMETRY
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MISSION_ALIAS |
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MISSION_START_DATE |
1994-12-01T12:00:00.000Z
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MISSION_STOP_DATE |
2005-01-14T12:00:00.000Z
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MISSION_DESCRIPTION |
Mission Overview
================
Observations made during the 1995-1996 Saturn Ring Plane Crossing
(RPX) led to the unexpected finding that the positions of both
Prometheus and Pandora varied significantly from the predictions
based on the Voyager observations (BOSH&RIVKIN1996,
NICHOLSONETAL1996, MCGHEEETAL2001, SYNNOTTETAL1983). A long term
observing campaign was undertaken in order to extend the time line
of astrometric observations.
The campaign used archival HST data from 1994, previously
unexamined RPX images, and a large series of targeted WFPC2
observations between 1996 and 2005. The ultimate goals were to
refine the ephemerides of both satellites and if possible
determine the cause or causes of the discrepancies.
Sufficient observations to produce astrometrically meaningful data
for nine other satellites were obtained incidentally in the
Prometheus-Pandora observing campaign.
Details of the project can be found in FRENCHETAL2006.
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MISSION_OBJECTIVES_SUMMARY |
Mission Objectives Overview
===========================
The primary intent of this investigation was to refine orbital
information for Prometheus and Pandora and if possible to
determine the cause or causes of the apparent changes in the
orbits of the two satellites since the Voyager encounters
(FRENCHETAL2003).
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REFERENCE_DESCRIPTION |
Bosh, A.S. and A.S. Rivkin, Observations of Saturn's inner satellites during
the May 1995 ring-plane crossing, Science, 272, 518-521, 1996.
French, R.G., C.A. McGhee, L. Dones, and J.J. Lissauer, Saturn's wayward
shepherds: the peregrinations of Prometheus and Pandora, Icarus 162, 143-170,
2003.
French, R.G., C.A. McGhee, M. Frey, R. Hock, S. Rounds, R. Jacobson, and A.
Verbiscer, Astrometry of Saturn's Satellites from the Hubble Space Telescope
WFPC2, PASP 118, 246-259, 2006.
McGhee, C.A., P.D. Nicholson, R.G. French, and K.J. Hall, HST Observations of
Saturnian Satellites during the 1995 Ring Plane Crossing, Icarus, 152, 282-315,
2001
Nicholson, P.D., M.R. Showalter, L. Dones, R.G. French, S.M. Larson, J.J.
Lissauer, C.A. McGhee, B. Sicardy, P. Seitzer, and G.E. Danielson, Observations
of Saturn's ring-plane crossing in August and November 1995, Science, 272, 509-
516, 1996
Synnott, S.P., R.J. Terrile, R.A. Jacobson, and B.A. Smith, Orbits of Saturn's
F ring and its shepherding satellites, Icarus, 53, 156-158, 1983
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