Determination of an Intermediate Perturbed Orbit using Multiple Observations

Abstract

Two methods are briefly stated for finding the preliminary orbit of a small celestial body from its three or more pairs of angular measurements and the corresponding time instants. The methods are based on using the approach that we previously developed for constructing the intermediate orbit from a minimum number of observations. This intermediate orbit allows for most of the perturbations in the motion of the body under study. The methods proposed use the Herget's algorithmic scheme that makes it possible to involve additional observations as well. Using the determination of orbits of some asteroids as examples, we compare the results obtained by applying the Herget multiple-observation algorithm and the proposed methods. The comparison shows that the proposed methods are an efficient means for studying perturbed motion. They are especially advantageous if applied to high-precision observational data covering short orbital arcs.