Development of planetary ephemerides EPM and their applications

Abstract

This paper outlines the progress in development of the numerical planet ephemerides EPM—Ephemerides of Planets and the Moon. EPM was first created in the 1970s in support of Russian space flight missions and constantly improved at IAA RAS. Comparison between various available EPM ephemerides (EPM2004, EPM2008, EPM2011) is shown. The first results of the updated EPM2013 version which takes into account the two-dimensional annulus of small asteroids are presented. Currently two main factors drive the progress of planet ephemerides: dynamical models of planet motion and observational data, with the crucial role of spacecraft ranging. EPM ephemerides are the basis for the Russian Astronomical and Nautical Astronomical Yearbooks, are planned to use in the GLONASS and LUNA-RESOURCE programs, and are being used for determination of physical parameters: masses of asteroids, planet rotation parameters and topography, the $$GM_\odot $$ and its secular variation, the PPN parameters, and the upper limit on the mass of dark matter in the Solar System. The files containing polynomial approximation for EPM ephemerides (EPM2004, EPM2008, EPM2011) along with TT–TDB and ephemerides of Ceres, Pallas, Vesta, Eris, Haumea, Makemake, and Sedna are available from ftp://quasar.ipa.nw.ru/incoming/EPM/ . Files are provided in IAA’s binary and ASCII formats, as well as in the SPK format.