A&A 371, 343–349 (2001) Astronomy

DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20010321

&
c ESO 2001
Astrophysics

The PHESAT95 catalogue of observations of the mutual events

of the Saturnian satellites?
W. Thuillot1 , J.-E. Arlot1 , C. Ruatti1 , J. Berthier1 , C. Blanco2 , F. Colas1 , W. Czech3 , M. Damani4 ,
V. D’Ambrosio2 , P. Descamps1 , G. Dourneau5 , N. Emelianov6 , S. Foglia4 , G. Helmer7 ,
T. R. Irsmambetova8 , N. James9 , P. Laques10 , J. Lecacheux11 , J.-F. Le Campion5 , C. Ledoux12 ,
J.-C. Le Floch13 , G. Oprescu14 , M. Rapaport5 , R. Riccioli2 , B. Starosta15 , V. G. Tejfel16 ,
E. M. Trunkovsky6 , B. Viateau5 , C. H. Veiga17 , and D. T. Vu1

1
Institut de Mécanique Céleste et de Calcul des Éphémérides, Observatoire de Paris, UMR 8028 du CNRS,
77 avenue Denfert-Rochereau, 75014 Paris, France
2
Instituto di Astronomia dell’Universit di Catania, Catania, Italy
3
Stuttgart, Germany
4
Osservatorio S. Zani, Italy
5
Observatoire de Bordeaux, France
6
Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Moscow, Russia
7
Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, France
8
Crimean laboratory of the Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Moscow, Russia
9
Chelmsford, UK
10
Pic du Midi observatory/Midi Pyrénées Observatory, France
11
DESPA, Observatoire de Paris, France
12
European Southern Observatory, La Silla, Chile
13
Clichy, France
14
Institutul Astronomic, Bucuresti, Romania
15
Fan Mt. Obs. of the Univ. of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA
16
Fesenkov Astrophysical Institute, Almaty, Kazakhstan
17
Observatorio Nacional, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
Received 14 September 2000 / Accepted 26 January 2001
Abstract. In 1994-1996 the Sun and the Earth passed through the equatorial plane of Saturn and therefore
through the orbital planes of its main satellites. During this period, phenomena involving seven of these satellites
were observed. Light curves of eclipses by Saturn and of mutual eclipses and occultations were recorded by the
observers of the international campaign PHESAT95 organized by the Institut de mécanique céleste, Paris, France.
Herein, we report 66 observations of 43 mutual events from 16 sites. For each observation, information is given
about the telescope, the receptor, the site and the observational conditions. This paper gathers together all these
data and gives a first estimate of the precision providing accurate astrometric data useful for the development of
dynamical models.

Key words. Saturn – satellites of Saturn – Astrometry

1. Introduction campaign, named PHESAT95, allowed us to collect 66

lightcurves of 43 mutual events through international net-
Observations of mutual events of the natural satellites work of 16 sites.
have been obtained since 1973 and are accurate way to ob-
We report in this paper the observations collected. A
tain astrometric measurements. Many such events involv-
second paper will provide an analysis of the data and
ing the Galilean satellites of Jupiter have been observed.
corrections to the theoretical models deduced from this
In 1994-1996, similar events occurred in the Saturnian
set of observations. The aim of the present paper is to
system and we organized and coordinated an interna-
provide the photometric data and the observational pa-
tional campaign in order to record these rare events. This
rameters useful for future works on the improvement
Send offprint requests to: W. Thuillot, of dynamical models as well as for models of the sur-
e-mail: thuillot@bdl.fr or arlot@bdl.fr faces of the satellites. These data can be accessed from
?
Figure 1 is only available in electronic form via the NSDC database dedicated to the natural satellites
http://www.edpsciences.org (http://www.bdl.fr/nsdc.html).

Article published by EDP Sciences and available at http://www.aanda.org or http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20010321

344 W. Thuillot et al.: The PHESAT95 catalogue of observations of the Saturnian phenomena

2. The mutual events and the eclipses in order to avoid meteorological problems and to observe
from different longitudes to record different events. We
The Earth and the Sun cross the equatorial plane of
thus invited observers previously involved in the PHEMU
Saturn every fifteen years (compared with six years for
campaigns of observations of the mutual events of the
the Jovian one). The Saturnian declinations of the Earth
Galilean satellites to join the PHESAT95 campaign.
and the Sun are then zero and since the orbital planes of
This campaign, coordinated by the Institut de mé-
seven of the main Saturnian satellites are very close to the
canique céleste involved the locations given in Table 1.
equatorial plane of Saturn, the satellites occult and eclipse
This table gives the diameter of the telescope used at these
each other or with Saturn: transits, occultations, umbra
sites, their names, longitudes and latitudes.
and eclipses can be observed.
For the observations of the mutual events usually rel-
The 1995 period was favorable since it happened dur-
ative photometry is possible but is sufficient. Since the
ing the opposition of Saturn and the Sun. The phenom-
elevation of Saturn above the horizon may be very small,
ena involved S1-Mimas, S-2 Enceladus, S-3 Tethys, S-4
the air mass is often too large and absolute photometry
Dione, S-5 Rhea, S-6 Titan and S-7 Hyperion and they
is then not possible. Two kinds of devices were used to
spanned a period of several months. The high inclination
perform this photometry: photoelectric photometric sin-
of S-8 Iapetus prevented us from observing any phenom-
gle channel recorders and two-dimensional CCD cameras.
ena involving this satellite during the same period. Several
These receptors, and references to their characteristics,
eclipses by Saturn were in fact predicted by Soma (1992)
are listed in Table 2.
but no observation was published to our knowledge.
Arlot & Thuillot (1993) made predictions of all the
1995 events using Dourneau’s theory (Dourneau 1987, 4. Lightcurves reduction procedure
1993) of the motion of the Saturnian satellites. 163 dates
of eclipses by Saturn and 182 dates of mutual events Lightcurves were deduced from photometric measure-
were computed. Before 1995, very few events were ob- ments either from relative photometry performed with
served during the previous occurrences; in their catalogue photoelectric photometers or CCD cameras.
of astrometric observations of the Saturnian satellites, For observations made with CCD cameras in video
Strugnell & Taylor (1990) referred to 14 mutual events mode, the digitized signal was computed by digitizing
observations made in 1980. These observations, with older boards. The lightcurves were obtained by aperture pho-
observations of 24 eclipses by Saturn and 2 mutual events tometry. For CCD observations, images were measured
made before 1980 and found in the literature, were used by Gaussian photometry of the ASTROL software (Colas
by Arlot & Thuillot (1993) to validate their predictions. 1996). Two dimensional measurements allow us to cali-
Since there is no thick atmosphere around the brate the signal of the involved satellite to the signal of a
Saturnian satellites (the one on Titan is not trouble- nearby satellite, to substract the sky background in real
some for our observations), the photometric observations time and so to obtain data under very difficult conditions
of such phenomena are very accurate for astrometric pur- (see for example Arlot et al. 1997).
poses. The results obtained after similar observations of The determination of the date of the minimum of light
the Galilean satellites (Arlot et al. 1997), show that a high and of the value of the magnitude drop was obtained from
astrometric accuracy may be obtained: an accuracy better a fit of the lightcurve with a sample polynomial. The errors
than 30 mas is expected. on these determinations are given in Table 3.
This allows us to provide data necessary for the im-
provement of the theoretical models of the orbital mo-
tions. Since 1995, a new dynamical model, TASS, has been 5. The catalogue
available (Vienne & Duriez 1995). This model is based on
5.1. The data
a general theory of the motions of the Saturnian satel-
lites (Duriez & Vienne 1991; Vienne & Duriez 1991, 1992) Table 3 gives for each date, the data related to the predic-
where, for the first time, all the gravitational interactions tion of the event, conditions of observation and the data
among them are considered and simultaneously analyzed. measured for analysis of the lightcurve.
New accurate data could therefore be applied to determine We give the predictions of the timing of these events in
the theoretical constants and consequently could also be Terrestrial Time as computed with Vienne and Duriez’s
applied to the interpretation of the space observations of ephemerides TASS 1.7 (Vienne & Duriez 1995). These pre-
the Saturnian system by the CASSINI space probe. dictions include the estimated magnitude drops; an aster-
isk means infinite magnitude drop for the total eclipses.
Note that the values computed from the Dourneau’s
3. The PHESAT 95 campaign
ephemerides (Dourneau 1987, 1993) are available in Arlot
The observation of these phenomena required an interna- & Thuillot (1993).
tional campaign in order to collect a significant amount The phase effect, computed by means of the Aksnes
of data. These events occur over a short time period, so, et al. (1986) method, is given in seconds of time and is
numerous observers located in several sites are necessary included in the O-C value.
 W. Thuillot et al.: The PHESAT95 catalogue of observations of the Saturnian phenomena 345

Table 1. Main sites of observation

Main observatories Reflector Longitude Latitude elevation

diameter
◦ 0 00
cm h m s meters
Almaty, Fesenkov Astrophys. Inst. (Kazakhstan) 60 5 7 49 E 43 11 10 N 1450
Assy, Fesenkov Astrophys. Inst. (Kazakhstan) 100 5 11 31 E 43 13 20 N 2750
Bordeaux (France) 60 0 2 6.6 W 44 50 7 N 73
Bucarest, Astron. Inst. of Acad. (Romania) 50 1 44 23.1 E 44 24 50 N 86
Calern, OCA/CERGA (France) 150 0 27 41.2 E 43 45 17 N 1282
Catania, M.G. Fracastoro Station (Italy) 91 0 59 55.0 E 37 41 30 N 1725
Charlottesville, Fan Mont. Obs. (USA) 80 5 22 11.3 W 38 2 0 N 100
Chelmsford (UK) 30 0 1 58.9 E 51 44 40 N 40
Crimean Lab., SAI Moscow Obs. station at Nauchny (Crimea) 60 2 16 4 E 44 43 37 N 600
ESO, La Silla (Chile) 50 4 42 55.1 W 29 15 26 S 2200
Itajuba, OPD/Lab. Nacional de Astrofisica (Brazil) 60 3 2 19.8 W 22 32 4 S 1864
Lumezzane, S. Zani Obs. (Italy) 40 0 40 57.8 E 45 39 59 N 830
Meudon, Paris-Meudon Obs. (France) 100 0 8 55.5 E 48 48 18 N 162
OHP, Haute-Provence Obs. (France) 80 0 22 52.0 E 43 55 46 N 665
Pic-du-Midi, Midi-Pyrénées Obs. (France) 105 0 0 34.2 E 42 56 12 N 2861
Stuttgart (Germany) 30 0 36 32.0 E 48 42 0 N 100

Table 2. Receptors used for the observations

Code as
given in Description references
the tables
Single channel receptors
PM1 photomultiplier EMI9789QA (Catania, Italia) Blanco (1999)
PM2 photom. EMI9789QA (K2CsSb) (ESO, Chile) –
PM3 photom. Hamamatsu R943-02 (GaAs) (ESO, Chile) –
PM4 photom. EMI9502B (Bucarest, Romania ) –
PM5 photom. WBVR single ch. (Nauchny, Crimea) Emelianov et al. (1999)
PM6 photom. 1P21 (Lumezzane, Italy) –
PM7 photom. RCA 931B (Charlottesville, USA) –
PMB photom. TELOC II B channel (Calern, France) Froeschlé et al. (1988)
PMV photom. TELOC II V channel (Calern, France) Froeschlé et al. (1988)
PMR photom. TELOC II R channel (Calern, France) Froeschlé et al. (1988)
Two-dimensional receptors
CCD1 CCD THX7863 target (Bordeaux, France) Le Campion et al. (1992)
CCD2 CCD THX7863 target (OHP, France) –
CCD3 CCD Astriane, THX7863 (Pic-du-Midi, France) –
CCD4 CCD CAM2 (Itajuba, Brazil) –
CCD5 CCD ST-6V (Assy and Almaty, Kazakhstan) Emelianov et al. (1999)
CCD6 CCD Lynxx (Stuttgart, Germany) –
CCD7 CCD Sony ICX027BL (Chelmsford, UK) –
CCDV1 video mode uncooled intensified CCD MXRII Arlot et al. (1989)
HCS Vision Techn. (Meudon, France)

Under the predicted times and magnitude drop The lightcurves shown in Fig. 1 give the magnitude
we show the observed ones in the UTC time scale. drop versus UTC time for each observation described in
Observational data are sequentially given as explained in Table 3.
the caption. Note that two specific filters were used at the These data and lightcurves are available through
Pic du Midi observatory. The first one, labelled OG590, is the Natural Satellite Data Center (NSDC) WEB server
a Schott long pass filter with transmittance of 0.99 above (http://www.bdl.fr/nsdc.html) and on the NSDC
640 nm. The second one, labelled DH710b, is a MTO inter- ftp anonymous server (ftp://ftp.bdl.fr/pub/NSDC/
ferential passband filter with spectral band from 530 nm saturn/raw data/phenomena/mutual/) of the Institut de
to 900 nm. mécanique céleste.
346 W. Thuillot et al.: The PHESAT95 catalogue of observations of the Saturnian phenomena

Table 3. Data from the observations of the Saturnian mutual events in 1995. One line gives the computed data i.e. the date
and type of the phenomenon (for example 2E3 means mutual eclipse of S3 by S2, 5O4 means mutual occultation of S4 by
S5), its timing, the predicted magnitude drop and also in Cols. 5 to 7, Ph.: phase effect included in the O-C; Dist.: apparent
distance from the involved satellites to the center of Saturn in planetary radii. The folowing lines give the observed data i.e.
the name of the location, the date of the maximum of the magnitude drop and its value and also in colums 8 to 17, O-C:
Observed minus calculated dates of the maximum in seconds of time, C being issued from the TASS prediction; Ap.: aperture
of the telescope in centimeters ; Rec.: code of the used receptor in column (cf. Table 2); El. Sat.: elevation of Saturn upon
the horizon ; El. Sun: elevation of the Sun upon the horizon ; Cd.: observational conditions : [1] means very good conditions;
[2] means acceptable and [3] very difficult conditions; Filt.: filter eventually used during the observations in column; no filter
used is denoted by “-”; T. int.: integration time of the measurements in seconds; a variable integration time is denoted “v”;
Dia.: size of the diaphragm when used; Sat. in dia.: satellites in the diaphragm or involved in the CCD measurements, i.e.
the satellites, the global magnitude drop of which was observed

Dates Begins Maxi. Ends Magn. Ph. Dist. O-C Ap. Rec. El. El. Cd. Filt. T. Dia. Sat.
Phenomena h m s h m s h m s drop (s) (Rs) (s) (cm) Sat. Sun int. (") in
Locations ( ) ( ) (s) dia.
95/06/17
2E3 (Ann.) 1 53 28 1 57 25 2 0 41 0.277 -6 3.4
OHP 1 56 42 0.224 12 80 CCD2 21 -16 1 - 7 2, 3
15 0.036
95/07/22
3E2 (Tot.) 0 3 0 0 5 28 0 8 13 (*) -2 3.3
OHP 0 4 32 0.310 3 80 CCD2 25 -26 1 - 7 2, 3
10 0.042
CATANIA 0 4 2 0.328 -27 90 PM1 34 -30 1 V 0.1 28 2, 3
22 0.089
PIC DU MIDI 0 4 23 0.062 -6 105 CCD3 22 -27 1 OG590 5 2, 3
7 0.010
95/07/28
4E3 (Part.) 9 21 20 9 24 0 9 26 25 0.523 -3 4.1
ESO 9 22 48 0.139 -14 50 PM3 59 -28 3 V 2 23 4, 3
4 0.011
95/07/29
2O3 (Ann) 1 5 35 1 6 10 1 6 44 0.208 1 2.2
CATANIA 1 5 39 0.458 31 90 PM1 45 -27 1 V 0.1 28 2, 3
4 0.133
95/08/02
3E1 (Part.) 9 45 47 9 46 8 9 46 29 0.488 -1 2.5
ESO 9 45 13 0.071 6 50 PM3 52 -22 2 R 2 23 1, 3, 5
8 0.019
95/08/04
3E1 (Part.) 7 3 50 7 4 9 7 4 26 0.424 -1 2.5
ESO 7 3 41 0.040 32 50 PM3 64 -57 3 B 2 8 3, 1
3 0.022
95/08/06
5O4 (Part.) 21 34 44 21 35 46 21 36 50 0.114 1 3.9
CATANIA 21 33 49 0.411 -55 90 PM1 19 -31 2 V 0.1 28 4, 5
1 0.085
CRIMEA 21 34 49 0.089 5 60 PM 29 -29 1 V 4, 5
13 0.057
95/08/08
3E1(Part.) 1 39 31 1 40 24 1 41 18 0.206 0 2.5
CATANIA 1 40 51 0.143 87 90 PM1 48 -25 2 V 0.1 28 1, 3
6 0.077
GRASSE 1 39 34 0.084 11 150 PMB 41 -24 2 B 0.2 8 1, 3
9 0.029
GRASSE 1 39 32 0.029 8 150 PMR 41 -24 2 R 0.2 8 1, 3
24 0.043
GRASSE 1 39 33 0.056 9 150 PMV 41 -24 2 V 0.2 8 1, 3
 18 0.040
95/08/09
3E1(Part.) 22 58 1 22 58 48 22 59 35 0.106 0 2.5
CATANIA 22 58 11 0.103 24 90 PM1 35 -36 3 V 0.1 28 1, 3
17 0.118
GRASSE 22 57 47 0.025 0 150 PMB 27 -30 2 B 0.2 8 1, 3
24 0.022
GRASSE 22 57 41 0.099 -6 150 PMV 27 -30 2 V 0.2 8 1, 3
12 0.024
95/08/10
4O2 (Tot.) 23 7 36 23 8 29 23 9 22 0.197 0 3.4
CATANIA 23 7 42 0.378 14 90 PM1 37 -37 3 V 0.1 21 2, 3, 4
7 0.086
95/08/11
5O4(Part.) 22 11 40 22 12 37 22 13 32 0.119 1 2.2
CATANIA 22 11 49 0.335 14 90 PM1 29 -36 3 V 0.1 28 4, 5
21 0.130
95/08/13
4O6 (Part.) 22 14 43 22 18 36 22 22 29 0.489 5 5.6
BUCAREST 22 14 42 0.076 -168 90 PM4 33 -31 2 - v 13 4, 6
13 0.016
 W. Thuillot et al.: The PHESAT95 catalogue of observations of the Saturnian phenomena 347

Table 3. continued

Dates Begins Maxi. Ends Magn. Ph. Dist. O-C Ap. Rec. El. El. Cd. Filt. T. Dia. Sat.
Phenomena h m s h m s h m s drop (s) (Rs) (s) (cm) Sat. Sun int. (") in
Locations ( ) ( ) (s) dia.
95/08/15
4O6 (Ann.) 3 3 42 3 31 23 3 59 4 0.500 -60 4.5
BORDEAUX 3 25 9 0.071 -373 60 CCD1 38 -16 3 R 2 4, 6
335 0.042
95/08/16
2O1 (Tot.) 3 45 59 3 46 29 3 46 59 0.456 0 2.9
ESO 3 45 15 0.360 -13 50 PM2 41 -69 3 y 1 8 1, 2
6 0.082
BORDEAUX 3 45 16 0.276 -11 60 CCD1 36 -13 1 R 5 1, 2
10 0.119
ITAJUBA 3 46 15 0.226 48 60 CCD4 64 -77 3 R 1 1, 2
2 0.012
PIC DU MIDI 3 45 10 0.442 -17 105 CCD3 37 -14 2 DH710B 1 1, 2
2 0.029
OHP 3 45 16 0.506 -11 80 CCD2 34 -10 1 - 8 1, 2
2 0.045
95/08/22
1O2 (Part.) 7 16 53 7 17 17 7 17 40 0.298 0 2.6
ITAJUBA 7 15 28 0.645 -47 60 CCD4 48 -30 2 I 1 1, 2
1 0.076
95/08/25
3O2 (Tot.) 1 48 43 1 49 22 1 50 1 0.170 0 3.0
OHP 1 48 28 0.184 7 80 CCD2 40 -28 1 - 5 2, 3
3 0.032
95/09/03
3O4 (Part.) 7 54 8 7 55 47 7 57 26 0.339 0 4.7
CHARLOTTESVILLE 7 54 43 0.300 -3 75 PM7 39 -31 1 - 1 3, 4
9 0.048
ESO 7 54 46 0.201 0 50 PM3 48 -40 1 i 2 14 3, 4
4 0.018
95/09/14
3E2 (Part.) 18 2 1 18 3 21 18 4 41 (*) 0 3.3
KAZAKHSTAN 18 1 9 0.130 78 100 CCD2 40 -42 2, 3
2 0.009
95/09/14
3O2 (Part.) 18 3 15 18 4 5 18 4 55 0.032 0 3.9
KAZAKHSTAN 18 1 50 0.115 119 100 CCD2 40 -42 2, 3
14 0.003
95/09/21
4O3 (Part.) 3 12 23 3 15 29 3 18 34 0.270 0 4.9
PIC DU MIDI 3 14 16 0.351 -12 105 CCD3 20 -27 1 - 3, 4
9 0.038
ESO 3 13 44 0.135 -43 50 PM3 63 -56 3 i 2 14 3, 4
62 0.056
95/09/24
3E5 (Ann.) 1 15 1 1 16 56 1 18 53 0.681 1 4.1
OHP 1 16 9 0.413 15 80 CCD2 31 -40 1 - 10 3, 5
14 0.089
ESO 1 16 1 0.302 6 50 PM3 44 -34 1 i 2 14 3, 5
2 0.011
CHELMSFORD 1 16 6 0.432 11 30 CCD7 27 -35 2 - 5 3, 5
4 0.030
BORDEAUX 1 15 58 0.340 4 60 CCD1 33 -42 1 R 10 3, 5
3 0.016
GRASSE 1 16 20 0.181 26 150 PMB 31 -40 1 B 0.2 8 3, 5
9 0.024
GRASSE 1 15 51 0.202 -3 150 PMR 31 -40 1 R 0.2 8 3, 5
10 0.035
GRASSE 1 16 18 0.147 23 150 PMV 31 -40 1 V 0.2 8 3, 5
16 0.034
95/10/10
4E3 5 21 32 5 22 29 5 23 26 0.061 1 3.3
CHARLOTTESVILLE 5 21 37 0.145 10 75 PM7 38 -58 2 I 1 3
14 0.067
95/10/25
4E5 (Part.) 19 17 35 19 18 25 19 19 28 0.146 2 5.3
CATANIA 19 16 55 0.114 -28 90 PM1 44 -37 3 V 0.1 28 4, 5
36 0.037
OHP 19 17 51 0.048 29 80 CCD2 36 -30 2 - 4 5
30 0.022
95/10/25
6E1 19 41 53 19 43 29 19 44 56 2.320 1 2.4
OHP 19 42 0 3.151 33 80 CCD2 38 -34 2 - 10 1
6 0.133
95/10/29
2E3 (Ann.) 4 23 6 4 23 45 4 24 24 0.274 1 2.5
ESO 4 23 8 0.857 25 50 PM3 45 -47 3 R 2 14 2, 3
1 0.194
95/10/30
2E5 2 15 8 2 15 45 2 16 21 0.003 1 3.5
ESO 2 14 45 0.012 -75 50 PM3 65 -37 1 R 2 8 5
 19 0.012
348 W. Thuillot et al.: The PHESAT95 catalogue of observations of the Saturnian phenomena

Table 3. continued

Dates Begins Maxi. Ends Magn. Ph. Dist. O-C Ap. Rec. El. El. Cd. Filt. T. Dia. Sat.
Phenomena h m s h m s h m s drop (s) (Rs) (s) (cm) Sat. Sun int. (") in
Locations ( ) ( ) (s) dia.
95/10/30
3E5 (Part.) 2 18 13 2 18 59 2 19 46 0.312 1 3.5
ESO 2 18 5 0.323 9 50 PM3 65 -37 1 R 2 8 5
2 0.019
95/11/03
4E3 (Part.) 19 39 48 19 40 36 19 41 24 0.942 1 2.8
BORDEAUX 19 39 36 1.318 2 60 CCD1 37 -31 1 R 10 3
2 0.129
95/11/05
5E3 (Part.) 18 52 58 18 53 47 18 54 37 1.422 1 1.9
BORDEAUX 18 53 3 4.155 19 60 CCD1 35 -23 1 R 10 3
4 0.453
95/11/09
6E2 (Tot.) 21 58 30 22 2 57 22 7 26 (*) 1 3.3
PIC DU MIDI 22 2 17 7.430 23 105 CCD3 34 -56 2 - 10 2
6 0.217
95/11/12
4E2 (Part.) 1 25 19 1 26 4 1 26 49 1.194 1 3.2
ESO 1 24 57 0.149 -5 50 PM3 65 -26 2 i 2 8 2
11 0.029
95/11/14
4E2 (Part.) 19 8 24 19 9 25 19 10 27 4.050 1 3.2
OHP 19 8 19 3.993 -4 80 CCD2 39 -32 1 - 8 2
2 0.341
95/11/14
5E2 21 18 23 21 19 13 21 20 2 0.138 1 2.6
OHP 21 18 15 0.244 5 80 CCD2 33 -54 1 - 5 2
18 0.079
95/11/18
5E6 18 44 37 18 49 51 18 55 5 0.095 8 4.8
LUMEZZANE 18 47 14 0.249 -88 40 PM6 38 -31 2 - 6
33 0.079
MEUDON 18 48 24 0.271 -19 100 CCDV1 34 -26 2 - 0.04 6
55 0.151
95/11/18
5E4 (Part.) 20 25 11 20 26 3 20 26 55 1.227 1 3.1
CHELMSFORD 20 25 7 0.906 7 30 CCD7 30 -40 1 - 6 4
5 0.097
MEUDON 20 25 10 1.605 10 100 CCDV1 33 -42 1 - 0.04 4
4 0.219
95/11/24
3E1 (Part.) 1 35 57 1 36 26 1 36 55 2.511 0 2.1
ESO 1 35 20 0.125 -4 50 PM2 57 -25 1 V 1 8 1
4 0.035
95/11/25
2E5 14 43 28 14 44 53 14 46 20 0.087 2 2.3
KAZAKHSTAN 14 43 53 0.110 3 60 CCD5 39 -36
5 0.017
95/11/27
3E1 (Part.) 20 10 24 20 10 47 20 11 10 1.322 1 2.1
CATANIA 20 9 49 0.232 4 90 PM1 36 -52 2 V 0.1 28 1, 3
10 0.059
95/11/27
5E2 (Tot.) 20 17 46 20 20 57 20 24 16 (*) 2 3.1
MEUDON 20 19 59 0.161 -7 100 CCDV1 31 -42 2 - 0.04 2
49 0.070
95/11/28
5E1 (Tot.) 1 29 11 1 29 40 1 30 9 (*) 0 1.3
ESO 1 28 41 0.536 2 50 PM2 55 -23 2 V 1 8 1
1 0.172
95/11/29
3E1 (Part.) 17 27 37 17 27 56 17 28 16 1.014 1 2.1
OHP 17 26 24 0.044 -30 80 CCD2 38 -16 2 - 5 1
5 0.011
95/12/16
5E1 (Part.) 1 1 50 1 2 6 1 2 21 0.998 1 2.2
ESO 1 1 3 0.272 -1 50 PM2 47 -16 1 V 2 8 1
12 0.056
96/02/16
4O5 (Part.) 17 49 59 17 52 43 17 55 27 0.389 -2 6.2
STUTTGART 17 51 50 0.116 7 30 CCD6 16 -14 2 - 5 4, 5
10 0.016
 W. Thuillot et al.: The PHESAT95 catalogue of observations of the Saturnian phenomena 349

5.2. Discussion difficult to obtain with other techniques from the ground.
Furthermore, they may allow us to determine surface
This catalogue intends to provide observational informa-
parameters by comparison of lightcurves with synthetic
tion and reduced data from the PHESAT95 campaign. A
models.
subsequent paper will provide an analysis by means of or-
bital longitude corrections for the two main theories used,
Acknowledgements. These observations have been made
Dourneau and TASS of Vienne and Duriez. thanks to the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche
The conditions of observation of these phenomena were Scientifique), the INSU (Institut National des Sciences de
difficult because of the faintness of the magnitude drop of l’Univers) and the CNES (Centre National d’Études Spatiales)
many of these events in combination with the closeness through the PNP (Programme National de Planétologie) who
to Saturn and its bright ring. Furthermore, the local con- supports the PHESAT95 campaign and the Institut de mé-
ditions of observation of phenomena affect the quality of canique céleste/Bureau des Longitudes.
the data and several poor quality lightcurve resulted from We thank several colleagues, amateur astronomers and stu-
small elevations above the horizon. dents, J. Bourgeois, H. Bulder, L. Cardon, Dr. V. Kornilov, Dr.
A. Krysczynska, Dr. P. Bouchet, Dr. Ph. Robutel, A. Rouhan,
The quality of each lightcurve may be judged either
M. Savoia, R. P. Wilds, for their efforts and their help during
by the value of the errors on the determined parameters
the campaign.
(time of the minimum of light and lightflux drop) or from We are indebted to Dr. A. Vienne and Dr. L. Duriez for
the appearance of the lightcurve itself. providing us the solution TASS1.7 of their general theory of
We note that, as for the previous catalogue of such the motion of the Saturnian satellites.
events, we computed the errors as following. The error We also wish to thank the staff of the observatories
on the lightflux drop is deduced from the standard devi- where these observations were made for their help during this
ation from the fit to the model light curve. The error on campaign, especially the staff of the Observatoire de Haute-
the date of the minimum is deduced from the error on Provence (OHP).
the magnitude drop combined with the speed of the de-
crease of the lightflux during the event. Thus, this error
depends on the number of points, on the integrating time References
and on the depth of the light curve. Therefore, the error
bars may be compared only between events made with the Aksnes, K., Franklin, F., & Magnusson, P. 1986, AJ, 92, 1436
same time constants and, preferably, with the same equip- Arlot, J. E., Thuillot, W., Colas, et al. 1989, Celest. Mech., 45,
ment, in order to determine an observational error and a 129
measurement of the quality of the observation. Arlot, J.-E., & Thuillot, W. 1993, Icarus, 105, 427
Partial analyses of some of these data have already Arlot, J.-E., Thuillot, W., Colas, et al. 1996, Proceedings of
the 172 IAU Symposium, ed. S. Ferraz Mello, B. Morando,
been published. For example, Thuillot (1996), Thuillot
& J.-E. Arlot (Kluwer Acad. Pub.), 423
& Descamps (1999) showed that an astrometric accuracy Arlot, J.-E., Ruatti, C., Thuillot, et al. 1997, A&AS, 125, 399
better than 48 mas can be deduced from this kind of data. Arlot, J.-E., & Stavinschi, M. 1996, eds of the PHESAT95
Emelianov et al. (1997, 1999) published results obtained workshop, Supp. Ann. Phys., 21, 1-192
at the Crimean laboratory and at the two astronomical ob- Arlot, J.-E., & Blanco, C. 1999, eds. of the proceedings of the
servatories in Kazakhstan. Workshops gathered many of PHEMU97 workshop, Institut de mécanique céleste, Paris
the participants of this campaign, first in Bucharest (Arlot Blanco, C. 1999, in Proceedings of the Planetary Science
& Stavinschi 1996), and later in Catania in Italy; several Second Italian Meeting held in Bormio, Italy, January 26-
31, ed. A. Morrare, & E. Dotto
partial results were also given there (Arlot & Blanco 1999).
Colas, F. 1996, in Proceedings of the PHESAT95 workshop,
Supp. Ann. Phys., 21, 133
Dourneau, G. 1987, Thesis, Bordeaux university
6. Conclusion Dourneau, G. 1993, A&A, 267, 292
We give in this paper the results of the PHESAT95 cam- Duriez, L., & Vienne, A. 1991, A&A, 243, 263
paign. Unfortunately data from some observers could not Emelianov, N. V., et al. 1997, Solar System Research 31, 6, 436
Emelianov, N. V., et al. 1999, A&AS, 139, 47
be used, generally because of the faintness of the observed Froeschlé, M., Meyer, Cl., & Mignard, F. 1992, A&A, 262, 308
signal and its poor signal/noise ratio and sometimes be- Le Campion, J.-F., et al. 1992, A&A, 266, 568
cause of the uncertainties in the time scale. The present Soma, M. 1992, A&A, 265, L21
catalogue gives the results obtained by all the partici- Strugnell, P. R., & Taylor, D. B. 1990, A&AS, 83, 289
pants of this campaign who obtained significant results. Thuillot, W., Arlot, J.-E., Colas, et al. 1996, Proceedings
In order to record the maximum number of events, it was of the Colloquium Journées Systèmes de Référence 1996,
necessary to organize international campaigns such as the DANOF, Paris Observatory, 34
Thuillot, W., & Descamps, P. 1999, Proceedings of the
PHESAT95 campaign. For the first time, we have obtained
PHEMU97 workshop, Institut de mécanique céleste, ed.
numerous photometric observations of the Saturnian mu- J.-E. Arlot, & C. Blanco, Paris, 97
tual events. These phenomena occur every 15 years and Vienne, A., & Duriez, L. 1991, A&A, 246, 619
in the same way as for the Galilean satellites, they lead to Vienne, A., & Duriez, L. 1992, A&A, 257, 331
very accurate astrometric measurements which are very Vienne, A., & Duriez, L. 1995, A&A, 297, 588