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Mass of Mercury from observations of asteroids

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Abstract

The Sun-to-Mercury mass ratio adopted by the International Astronomical Union (6023600 ± 250) was obtained in 1987 by analyzing Mariner 10 observations (Anderson et al. 1987) and since then has not been improved. The large number of asteroids in Mercury-approaching orbits and the ever-increasing accuracy of their observations allow the mass of Mercury to be estimated by a different method. We have improved the orbital parameters of 43 asteroids and obtained 6023440 ± 530 for the Sun-to-Mercury mass ratio through a simultaneous solution based on their optical and radar observations. A further improvement in this estimate is possible in the immediate future owing to the rapid increase in the number of known asteroids whose observations can be used to solve this problem.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Applied Astronomy, Russian Academy of Sciences, nab. Kutuzova 10, St. Petersburg, 191187, Russia

    Yu. A. Chernetenko

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  1. Yu. A. Chernetenko
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Correspondence to Yu. A. Chernetenko.

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Original Russian Text © Yu.A. Chernetenko, 2007, published in Pis’ma v Astronomicheskiĭ Zhurnal, 2007, Vol. 33, No. 12, pp. 946–950.

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Chernetenko, Y.A. Mass of Mercury from observations of asteroids. Astron. Lett. 33, 848–851 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063773707120080

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063773707120080

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