The Astronomical Journal · 1959 · 81 citations · 0 references
Natural SciencesAstronomyPhysicsAstrophysicsGravitationGravityGravity AnomaliesOrbital DynamicsOrbital ElementsPlanetary Gravity FieldsSatellite Orbit DynamicsSatellite OrbitsCanonical Orbital ElementsGravitational Field ModelingGravitational Potential FieldGravity Anomaly DeterminationMean AnomalyMean Orbital ElementsObserved VariablesSpherical Harmonic Analysis
A bstract. The theory of the orbit of the Vanguard satellite is developed using as arbitrary constants the six initial orbital elements, the zonal spherical harmonics of the earth's field of degrees 0, 2, 3, 4, and a table of observed values of the mean anomaly at the epoch. Comparison is made with the elements calculated by the Vanguard computing center; it is shown that most of the changes in the elements are reproduced in this way.