Can Interplanetary Measures Bound the Cosmological Constant?

Abstract

Introducing the cosmological constant into Einstein's field equations, we determine a bound for this constant using the values observed from Mercury's perihelion shift. The bound that we find is 10-45 km-2, 1 order of magnitude above the accepted value. By improving by one or two decimal digits the precision of the measurements of Mercury's perihelion shift, one would have an alternative way to bound the value of the cosmological constant.