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Planetary Constants Quick Reference

• Table 1: Rotation and pole position for the Sun and planets
• Table 2: Rotation and pole position for planetary satellites
• Table 3: Rotation and pole position for selected asteroids and comets
• Table 4: Size and shape of the planets
• Table 5: Size and shape of the planetary satellites
• Table 6: Size and shape of selected asteroids and comets

Purpose

The IAU/IAG Working Group (WG) on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotational Elements has been given the responsibility by the International Astronomical Union and the International Association of Geodesy to define the rotational elements of the planets, satellites, asteroids, and comets of the solar system on a systematic basis and to relate their cartographic coordinates rigorously to the rotational elements.

In practice, the Working Group (WG) has accomplished this by issuing a report after every (triennual) IAU meeting, which describes the current recommended models for the cartographic coordinates and rotational elements of all planetary bodies where such detailed knowledge exists, e.g. usually via collection by spacecraft.

This web page lists an abbreviated history of the WG, its current membership, the reports issued by the WG -- including links to recent and current versions of the report, useful links to other web sites, and credits.

History

The IAU Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotational Elements of the Planets and Satellites was established as a consequence of a resolution adopted by Commissions 4 and 16 at the IAU General Assembly at Grenoble in 1976. The resolution reads (IAU Trans. XVIB, p. 144):

Commissions 4 and 16 noting that
(a) confusion exists regarding the present rotation elements of some of the planets
(b) extensive amounts of new data from radar observations and by direct imaging from spacecraft have made cartography of the surfaces of the Moon, Mercury, Venus, and Mars a reality
(c) there will be an extension of these techniques to the mapping of larger satellites of Jupiter and Saturn in the near future

assert that
(a) to avoid a proliferation of inconsistent cartographic and rotational systems, there is a need to define the rotational elements of the planets and satellites on a systematic basis and to relate the new cartographic coordinates rigorously to the rotation elements.

and therefore recommend that
(1) Comission 4 (Ephemerides) and Comission 16 (Physical Study of Planets and Satellites) establish a Joint Working Group to study the cartographic coordinates and rotational elements of the planets and satellites and to report recommendations at the next general assembly of the IAU.

After issuing its first report at the IAU General Assembly at Montreal in 1979, the need for the WG's efforts to continue was recognized, and its existence has been renewed at every IAU meeting since. The WG is currently an Inter Division Working Group of the IAU, operating under the auspices of IAU Division III (Planetary Systems Sciences) and Division I (Fundamental Astronomy). At the IAU General Assembly in Sydney in 2003, it was recognized that similar work is now required about asteroids and comets. The WG was therefore assigned to consider the cartographic coordinates and rotational elements of these bodies. Reflecting this additional responsibility, the name of the WG was changed (shortened) to the IAU/IAG Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotational Elements.

The WG was also recognized as a working group of the International Association of Geodesy beginning with its third report (issued in 1986) and continuing until the present.

It was also recognized as a working group by the Committee on Space Research beginning with its third report until its sixth report (issued in 1996). COSPAR sponsorship did not continue primarily due to a strong preference that COSPAR working groups hold regular scientific symposia, which was considered outside the needs of the WG. In addition, COSPAR working groups have limited lifetimes.

The first and long time chair of the WG (1979-1997) was the late Merton E. Davies. Membership in the WG has generally changed at least to some extent with the issuance of every report.

Working Group Members

Current WG members are listed below, and past members are as indicated in the author list of the publications cited below.

Working Group Members, 2003 Report:

P. K. Seidelmann (Chair)
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, U.S.A.
pks6n@virginia.edu

B. A. Archinal (Vice-Chair)
U.S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, AZ, U.S.A.
barchinal@usgs.gov

M. F. A'Hearn
University of Maryland, College Park, MD, U.S.A.

D. P. Cruikshank
NASA/Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, U.S.A.

J. L. Hilton
U.S. Naval Observatory, Washington D.C., U.S.A.

H. U. Keller
MPI Aeronomie, Katlenburg Lindau, Germany

J. Oberst
DLR Berlin Adlershof, Berlin, Germany

J. L. Simon
Institut de Mecanique Celeste, Paris, France

P. Stooke
Univ. of Western Ontario, London, Canada

D. J. Tholen
University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, U.S.A.

P. C. Thomas
Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY, U.S.A.

Publications

The first report of the WG was presented to the General Assembly at Montreal in 1979 and published in the Trans. IAU XVIIB, 72-79, 1980. The report with appendices was published in Celestial Mechanics 22, 205-230, 1980. The guiding principles and conventions that were adopted by the Group and the rationale for their acceptance were presented in that report and its appendices. The second report of the Working Group was published in the Trans. IAU XVIIIB, 151-162, 1983, and also with an appendix and references in Celestial Mechanics 29, 309-321, 1983. The following table summarizes the references to all the reports, and the reports are listed in detail below.

           Report           General Assembly               Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy
             1              Montreal in 1979                           22, 205-230, 1980.
             2              Patras in 1982                             29, 309-321, 1983.
             3              New Delhi in 1985                          39, 103-113, 1986.
             4              Baltimore in 1988                          46, 187-204, 1989.
             5              Buenos Aires in 1991                       53, 377-397, 1992.
             6              Hague in 1994                              63, 127-148, 1996.
             7              Kyoto in 1997                              no report
             8              Manchester in 2000                         82, 83-110, 2002.
             9              Sydney in 2003                             91, 203-215, 2005.

Report 1 - Two versions available:
M. E. Davies (Chair), V. K. Abalakin, R. L. Duncombe, H. Masursky, B. Morando, T. C. Owen, P. K. Seidelmann, A. T. Sinclair, G. A. Wilkins, C. A. Cross (consultant), and Y. S. Tjuflin (consultant) (1980). "Report of the IAU Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotation Elements of the Planets and Satellites," in Patrick A. Wayman (ed.) Proceedings of the Seventeenth General Assembly Montreal 1979, Transactions of the International Astronomical Union, XVIIB, pp. 72-79. [Not including Annexes 1-3 and bibliography.]

M. E. Davies (Chair), V. K. Abalakin, C. A. Cross, R. L. Duncombe, H. Masursky, B. Morando, T. C. Owen, P. K. Seidelmann, A. T. Sinclair, G. A. Wilkins, and Y. S. Tjuflin (1980). "Report of the IAU Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotation Elements of the Planets and Satellites," Celestial Mechanics, 22, pp. 205-230. [Includes Annexes 1-3 and bibliography.] Available from ADS.

Report 2- Two versions available:
M. E. Davies (Chair), V. K. Abalakin, J. H. Lieske, P. K. Seidelmann, A. T. Sinclair, A. M. Sinzi, B. A. Smith, and Y. S. Tjuflin (consultant) (1983). "Report of the IAU Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotation Elements of the Planets and Satellites: 1982," in Richard M. West (ed.) Proceedings of the Eighteenth General Assembly Patras 1982, Transactions of the International Astronomical Union, XVIIIB, pp. 151-162. [Not including Appendix and References.]

M. E. Davies (Chair), V. K. Abalakin, J. H. Lieske, P. K. Seidelmann, A. T. Sinclair, A. M. Sinzi, B. A. Smith, and Y. S. Tjuflin (consultant) (1983). "Report of the IAU Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotation Elements of the Planets and Satellites: 1982," Celestial Mechanics, 29, pp. 309-321. [Including Appendix and References.] Available from ADS.

Report 3:
M. E. Davies (Chair), V. K. Abalakin, M. Bursa, T. Lederle, J. H. Lieske, R. H. Rapp, P. K. Seidelmann, A. T. Sinclair, V. G. Teifel, and Y. S. Tjuflin (consultant) (1986). "Report of the IAU/IAG/COSPAR Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotation Elements of the Planets and Satellites: 1985," Celestial Mechanics, 39, pp. 103-113. Available from ADS.

Report 4:
M. E. Davies (Chair), V. K. Abalakin, M. Bursa, G. E. Hunt, J. H. Lieske, B. Morando, R. H. Rapp, P. K. Seidelmann, A. T. Sinclair, and Y. S. Tjuflin (consultant) (1989). "Report of the IAU/IAG/COSPAR Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotation Elements of the Planets and Satellites: 1988," Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy, 46, pp. 187-204. Available from ADS.

Report 5:
M. E. Davies (Chair), V. K. Abalakin, A. Brahic, M. Bursa, B. H. Chovitz, P. K. Seidelmann, A. T. Sinclair, and Y. S. Tjuflin (consultant) (1992). "Report of the IAU/IAG/COSPAR Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotation Elements of the Planets and Satellites: 1991," Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy, 53, pp. 377-397. Available from ADS.

Report 6:
M. E. Davies (Chair), V. K. Abalakin, M. Bursa, J. H. Lieske, B. Morando, D. Morrrison, P. K. Seidelmann (Vice-Chair), A. T. Sinclair, B. Yallop, and Y. S. Tjuflin (consultant) (1996). "Report of the IAU/IAG/COSPAR Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotation Elements of the Planets and Satellites: 1994," Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy, 63, pp. 127-148. Available from ADS.

Report 7:
Not issued.

Report 8:
P. K. Seidelmann (Chair), V. K. Abalakin, M. Bursa, M. E. Davies, C. De Bergh, J. H. Lieske, J. Oberst, J. L. Simon, E. M Standish, P. Stooke, and P. C. Thomas (2002). "Report of the IAU/IAG Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotation Elements of the Planets and Satellites: 2000," Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy, 82, pp. 83-110. Preprint available on-line. Also available, ADS Service.

Current Report / Report 9:
P. K. Seidelmann (Chair), B. A. Archinal (Vice-Chair), M. F. A'Hearn, D. P. Cruikshank, J. L. Hilton, H. U. Keller, J. Oberst, J. L. Simon, P. Stooke, D. J. Tholen, and P. C. Thomas (2005), "Report Of The IAU/IAG Working Group On Cartographic Coordinates And Rotational Elements: 2003," Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy, 91, pp. 203-215. Preprint available on-line. Also available, ADS Service.