http://arxiv.org/abs/2304.02289
The perspectives of detecting the general relativistic Lense-Thirring effect on the orbits of the Galilean moons of Jupiter induced by its angular momentum ${\boldsymbol{S}}$ are preliminarily investigated. Numerical integrations over one century show that the expected gravitomagnetic signatures of some observables such as the satellites’ right ascension $\alpha$ and declination $\delta$ are as large as tens of arcseconds for Io, while for Callisto they drop to the $\simeq 0.2\,\mathrm{arcseconds}$ level; the shifts in the transverse component $T$ of the orbit range from 40 km for Io to 2 km for Callisto. Major competing effects due to the mismodeling in the zonal multipoles $J_\ell,\,\ell=2,\,3,\,4,\,\ldots$ of the Jovian non-spherically symmetric gravity field and in the Jupiter’s spin axis ${\boldsymbol{\hat{k}}}$ should have a limited impact, especially in view of the future improvements in determing such parameters expected after the completion of the ongoing Juno mission in the next few years. Present-day accuracy in knowing the orbits of Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto is of the order of 10 milliarcseconds, to be likely further improved by the approved JUICE and Clipper missions. This suggests that the Lense-Thirring effect in the main Jovian system of moons might be detectable with dedicated data reductions in which the gravitomagnetic field is explicitly modeled and solved-for.
L. Iorio
Thu, 6 Apr 23
8/76
Comments: LaTex2e, 24 pages, 12 figures, no tables
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