The Orbits of the Main Saturnian Satellites, the Saturnian System Gravity Field, and the Orientation of Saturn’s Pole* * ©2022 California Institute of Technology. Government sponsorship acknowledged.

Abstract

Four spacecraft have been sent to investigate the Saturnian system: Pioneer 11, Voyager 1, Voyager 2, and Cassini. By analyzing data acquired with these spacecraft together with Earth-based and Hubble Space Telescope satellite astrometry and Saturnian ring and satellite occultations, we constructed a model for the orientation and precession of Saturn’s pole and determined gravitational parameters of the system and the orbits of the Saturnian satellites. This article provides details of our analysis and its results.