Celestial Reference Systems - An Overview

Abstract

The paper starts with a short presentation of the conceptual foundations of celestial reference systems and of the IAU decisions taken in 1991. The necessity to define and use them in the framework of General Relativity induces some difficulties that are analyzed. In the case of kinematically defined reference systems, the origins of a possible residual rotation of the frames is analyzed. The same analysis holds also for an isolated dynamical reference system, for which further developments of the metric are necessary. Finally, a few topics concerning the non-isolated case of the barycentric reference system, the transformation between reference systems, and the significance of measurements are mentioned.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 2000
Accession Number
ADA435384

Entities

People

  • J. Kovalevsky

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accuracy
  • Angular Motion
  • Astronomy
  • Celestial Mechanics
  • Coordinate Systems
  • Doppler Effect
  • General Relativity
  • Geophysics
  • Materials
  • Measurement
  • Observation
  • Observatories
  • Physical Properties
  • Radial Velocity
  • Relative Motion
  • Rotation
  • Solar System

Readers

  • Control Systems Engineering.
  • Space Exploration and Orbital Mechanics.
  • Systems Analysis and Design