Natural Satellites Service. Special ephemerides
  Ephemerides of the coorbital satellites of Saturn
for infrared observations
 
by N.Emelyanov, M.Varfolomeev
Celestial mechanics department / Sternberg Astronomical Institute / Moscow University

Using the infrared camera, the light of the disk of Saturn may be eliminated. The solution found by Nicholson et al. [1] was to exploit the strong planetary methane and hydrogen absorption at λ=2.0-2.4 μm. Saturn’s rings, however, remain bright in this spectral region. It is a good idea to use the disk of Saturn to occult or to eclipse the bright ring and to observe the satellites as they pass through superior conjunction. Such a situation occurs only four times during Saturn’s 29-year orbital period. The relative positions of the Earth, Saturn and the Sun restrict the useful windows for observations. The next epoch when these observations are possible arrives in 2013. The dates of these rare events for the years 2013-2035 have been precalculated by the authors. Our aim is to encourage observers to observe these satellites, planning observations in advance.

See:
Paper on this subject
 
Table of the time periods of observations
 
 
2013/11/20 – 2014/11/11,
2020/01/05 – 2020/03/29,
2020/06/19 – 2020/12/30,
2029/05/17 – 2030/04/24,
2033/10/10 – 2033/11/22,
2034/06/27 – 2034/09/03,
2035/01/26 – 2035/06/04.
  

 

References
1. Nicholson P.D., Hamilton D.P., Matthews K., Yoder C.F.: 1992.
“New observations of Saturn's coorbital satellites” - Icarus. V. 100, n. 2, p. 464-484.


Celestial mechanics department / Sternberg Astronomical Institute / Moscow University