Orbit determination from a short arc through the coefficients of power series in time

Summary

Attention is called to the method(s) of orbit determination as mentioned in the heading, deriving the values of the coefficients to be applied, by adjustment by least squares, of the power series in either rectangular coordinate, to the values observed, of this, -as initiated in the past by several authors, among others by Silva and De Caro in the 30's and 40's, and critically studied by the present author in the 50ies, with merely a short note published (Lund Ann. 12, C1–C7 (1953)).

The avail of modern computers for overcoming the numerical trouble by taking into account the terms of higher order, than those until the fourth necessary for the orbit computation — an account unevitable for a seccessful accomplishment, as shown by the author — may justify a resumed interest in those methods, as the only ones allowing to extract just the information contained in the observations of such a short arc — without any hypothesis in advance.