The Effect of Differential Color Refraction on Astrometric Observations of Solar System Bodies and Earth Satellites from Ground Based Optical Telescopes
Abstract
Earth's atmosphere is optically dispersive and subjects astrometric observations from ground-based optical telescopes to systematic bias from differential color refraction (DCR). This bias is evident in Minor Planet Center observations of asteroids with known spectral types and in observations of GPS and GLONASS satellites. DCR bias is on the order of 0.1 arcsec, and until recently, fixed-pattern star catalog errors exceeded this level. With the release of the Gaia DR2 star catalog in April of 2018, catalog error is no longer dominant and the systematic error floor in ground-based astrometry is defined by DCR.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2019
- Accession Number
- AD1100584
Entities
People
- Roman O. Geykhman
Organizations
- MIT Lincoln Laboratory