Anybody here trying to determine Jupiter's orbital elements from telescope observations?

Question

Jupiter is at opposition with respect to the sun, so it is a good time to make careful measurements of Jupiter's right ascension and declination in order to determine its orbit around the sun. I'm going to try this myself (as soon as my telescope arrives in the mail).

What is your favorite mathematical technique for going from geocentric angle-only position measurements to the orbital elements? Please describe your method in great detail.

Answer 1

Determining the Orbital Periods of Jupiter's Galilean Satellites Using Simple Devices.

Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.

volume 101, no. 3  June 2007

pages 95 to 103

You will have to ask your library, as the embargo will not be lifted for a few months yet.  When it is, you will be able to get it at this web site:

http://www.rasc.ca/journal/backissues.sh...

What you want is in that article, including how to go from a geocentric to sidereal to heliocentric coordinates.

Observations were done with a 80 mm refractor (3 inch aperture), timings done with a metronome and date/time recorded to the nearest 15 minutes (on purpose).

Data reduction (determining geocentric parameters) done with "cosine-curve fitting" method.