UVI Observations of Saturn and the Moon

2003-09-12: Moon Observations (4 Filters)



Here we have images of the Moon in all four filters. The Moon is the brightest in LBHL and is still bright in LBHS. The Moon is still present though not as easy to discern in the 1304 and 1356 images. The Moon is nearly full that this time, about 95% illuminated. There is a boresight correction of 6 columns to the right and 16 rows up to line up the Moon with its expected position.

Notice the position of the Moon in the equivalent FOV of an observer at the center of Earth at the bottom. With Polar's apogee of ~10 Earth radii, the position of the Moon with respect to the background stars (that is, right ascension and declination) can be up to 10 degrees different (due to parallax) than it is for an Earth-based observer. I added some lines in Studio that computes the vector between Polar and the Moon based on the vectors between Polar and Earth and Earth and the Moon (determined from the Moon's ephemeris) and then calculates a new right ascension and declination of the Moon from Polar's vantage point.


Last updated 24 September 2003
by matt at ssl dot berkeley dot edu