The masses of Uranus and its major satellites from Voyager tracking data and earth-based Uranian satellite data

Abstract

Improved values for the masses of the Uranian system and the satellites Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, Oberon, and Miranda are obtained on the basis of an analysis of the Doppler-tracking data and star-satellite imaging from the Voyager 2 spacecraft combined with earth-based astrometric satellite observations. Masses are expressed as the product, the universal gravitational constant times the mass of the body, in units of (cu km/sq s). The satellite masses are (4.4 +/- 0.5) for Miranda, (90.3 +/- 8.0) for Ariel, (78.2 +/- 9.0) for Umbriel, (235.3 +/- 6.0) for Titania, and (201.1 +/- 5.0) for Oberon. Quoted errors are standard errors and are the present assessment of the true rather than the formal errors. The Uranus rotational pole orientation angles and gravity harmonic coefficients were fixed at the values determined by French et al. (1988) from stellar occultations of the Uranian rings observed from both the earth and Voyager 2 and from the occultation of the spacecraft radio signal.