ANALYTICAL PLANETARY SOLUTION VSOP2000

X. MOISSON and P. BRETAGNON

Institut de mcanique cleste, UMR8028, Observatoire de Paris, 77, avenue Denfert-Rochereau
75014, Paris, France

(Received: 05 November 2000; accepted: 06 April 2001)

Abstract. The analytical planetary solution VSOP2000 determines the planetary perturbations with
the help of an iterative method from a solution developed till the third order of the disturbing masses.
This solution is from 10 to 100 times more precise than the previous analytical solutions VSOP82
and VSOP87, at the level of some 0.1 mas for Mercury, Venus and the Earth and some mas for the
other planets over the timespan 19002000.
With this solution, the relation between the Barycentric Coordinate Time (TCB) and the Geocentric Coordinate Time (TCG) is computed with an accuracy better than 0.1 nanosecond over
the interval 19652015. We also determined the contribution to the Eulerian angles of the geodetic
precession-nutation.
Key words: celestial mechanics, planetary theories, solar system, ephemerides

1. Introduction
The improvement of the techniques of observation and the needs for the spacecraft
navigation make necessary the construction of solutions more precise for the motion of the planets. Moreover, the need for having analytical solutions of the motion
of the Moon, Sun and planets for the study of the rotation of the Earth at the level
of precision required by the VLBI measurements led us to build a new analytical
planetary solution VSOP2000.
The analytical solutions of the motion of the Moon and of the planets have
been built in the Bureau des longitudes in 1980s. The integration constants of
the VSOP82 and VSOP87 planetary solutions had been determined by comparing
these solutions to the numerical integration DE200 (Standish, 1982) of the JPL.
Recently, these constants have been calculated anew by direct comparison with
the observations. For that, Fienga (1999) has used optical observations, radar distances between the Earth and Mercury, Venus and Mars and VLBI measures of the
Magellan spacecraft.
The JPL develops very high precision planetary solutions by numerical integration (Standish, 1982, Standish et al., 1995). In the recent improvements of these
solutions, let us note the introduction of the perturbations of the planets by 300
asteroids, of the perturbations due to the harmonic J2 of the Sun and also the choice
of the ICRF as reference system.
Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy 80: 205213, 2001.
2001 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.

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X. MOISSON AND P. BRETAGNON

The development of new high precision techniques of observation (radar, VLBI,

timing of the pulsars), the determination of new values of the planetary masses
need the construction of new planetary theories. Therefore, we have undertaken
the construction of the VSOP2000 solution. Its integration constants are presently
determined by comparing to DE403 (Standish et al., 1995). Then, VSOP2000 will
directly be compared with the observations.
From a first version of this planetary solution, we have expressed it in the Barycentric Reference System as function of the Barycentric Coordinate Time (TCB)
by solving the equations of Einstein et al., (1938) given in Brumberg (1991). With
the help of this new solution, we have computed the analytical relations of time
and space between the barycentric and geocentric coordinates in order to relate
the dynamical and kinematical reference systems. The aims are to know the links
between the planetocentric time scales and TCB, to know the matrices of geodetic
precession-nutation and the links between the kinematical and dynamical Euler
angles and to obtain models for the rotation of the bodies in the kinematically non
rotating reference frame.
This solution will be also useful to improve the computation of the perturbations
of the Earth rotation about its mass center.

2. Model of the VSOP2000 Solution

The VSOP2000 solution constitutes an improvement of the VSOP82 solution. In
VSOP82, the perturbations were built order by order up to the third order with
respect to the masses of the eight major planets. Moreover, for Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus and Neptune, the solutions were completed by an iterative method up to
the fifth order. The relativity was introduced by the Schwarzschild problem and the
perturbations of the Earth-Moon barycenter by the Moon were taken into account.
The essential differences between VSOP82 and VSOP2000 are the introduction
in this latter solution of the perturbations by the asteroids and the development of
the series to a higher order with respect to the masses.
We know that the iterative methods of construction of planetary theories are
divergent as soon as the series differ too much from a precise solution of the
differential equations. So, we have built, as for VSOP82, a solution developed up
to the third order of the masses. The result is good enough to apply an iterative
method to all the planets and, after several iterations, we obtained an eighth order
of the masses solution.
The eight major planets have been integrated together. The perturbations by
Pluto computed by Simon (2000), by the five asteroids, Ceres, Pallas, Vesta, Iris,
and Bamberga and by the Moon are introduced during the iterations. For the perturbations of the Earth-Moon barycenter by the Moon, we computed the first order
perturbations (proportional to the mass of the Moon) and the second order ones
(proportional to the product of the mass of the Moon by a planetary mass). These

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ANALYTICAL PLANETARY SOLUTION VSOP2000

second order perturbations on Mercury, Venus, and Mars are also computed. The
perturbations by the other natural satellites are presently neglected. Really, the
perturbations by the four Galilean satellites of Jupiter produce an advance of the
perihelion of Jupiter of 0.037 mas per year which corresponds to a Poisson term
in the longitude with an amplitude reaching 0.35 mas after one century from the
origin J2000.0. In the case of Saturn, Titan produces an advance of the perihelion
of 0.005 mas per year and a Poisson term in the longitude with an amplitude of
0.06 mas after one century. The relativistic corrections proportional to the gravitational radius of the Sun, , are also introduced as well as the m terms, where
m is a planetary mass. The mutual relativistic perturbations between the planets are
not taken into account.
The planetary masses used in the construction of VSOP2000 are those given
in the IERS1992 Conventions (McCarthy, 1992). The masses used in DE403 are
slightly different from these. The consequences of these differences are not appreciable except in the longitude of Jupiter, with an amplitude of 0.74 mas for the
883-year term and in the longitude of Neptune with an amplitude of 3.66 mas for
the 4 233 year term. Over one century, the contribution of these two corrections is
negligible.
First values of the integration constants were obtained by fitting to the numerical
integration DE403 of the JPL (Standish et al., 1995) and a re-determination of these
constants by comparison with the observations is in progress.
The determination of the integration constants fixes the mean ecliptic with respect to the equator J2000 with the angle reckoned on the equator and the
obliquity .

1
0
0
cos sin 0
x
x
y
= 0 cos sin sin cos 0 y
0 sin cos
0
0 1
z equator
z ecliptic

In Table I the obtained values of and are compared with the result of
Standish et al. (1995) and of Chapront et al. (2000) determined from the Laser
Lunar Ranging.
TABLE I
Orientation of the solutions
Solution
Standish et al. (1995)
Chapront et al. (2000)
This work

0.05294 0.00001
0.05545 0.00011
0.05365 0.00002

23 26 21.40928 0.00000

23 26 21.41100 0.00005
23 26 21.40878 0.00002

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X. MOISSON AND P. BRETAGNON

3. Representation and Precision of the Solutions

The solutions are represented in elliptical variables a, , k = e cos , h = e sin  ,
q = sin(i/2) cos , p = sin(i/2) sin , where a is the semimajor axis, the mean
longitude, e the eccentricity of the orbit,  the longitude of the perihelion, i the
inclination about the ecliptic J2000, and  the longitude of the node. Each variable
is developed in Fourier series and Poisson series of degree up to 8. The argument
of the series are linear combinations of 17 angles, the mean longitudes of the nine
major planets and of the five asteroids and the three Delaunays angles of the Moon,
D, F , and l.
The improvement of the accuracy of the solutions is obtained at the cost of an
important increase of the number of terms of the series. In Table II we give the
number of terms of the Fourier (Periodic) and Poisson (T n ) series of the mean
longitudes of the Earth, Jupiter and Saturn with a precision of truncation of the
series of 0.05 as for the Earth and 2 as for Jupiter and Saturn for T less than
1000 years. Saturn is the planet the motion representation of which is the bulkiest
one.
The new solutions improve the previous theories and it is interesting to compare
the accuracy of different solutions. In Table III we give the maximun difference
between VSOP82 (Bretagnon, 1982) and DE200 (Standish, 1982) over one century
(19002000). The units are 1010 for the relative difference a/a of the semimajor
axis a, 1010 rad and mas for the mean longitude , 1010 for the variables, k, h, q,
and p.
The Poisson series of VSOP2000 are developed up to a higher degree with
respect to time than VSOP82. Moreover, the level of truncation is lower and therefore the number of terms kept in the solution is about five times greater. So, this
iterative method considerably improves the accuracy of the solution, in particular
for the outer planets, and, for the whole planets, the new solution is between 10
and 100 times more precise than VSOP82. The definition of the ecliptic plane, for
instance, is 20 times more precise. The uncertainty of the heliocentric position of
the Earth is about 300 m.
Table IV gives the maximum difference between VSOP2000 and DE403 over
the time span (19002000).
TABLE II
Number of terms of the VSOP2000 solution
Planet

Periodic

T2

T3

T4

T5

T6

T7

T8

The Earth
Jupiter
Saturn

8 891
5 879
10 110

6 915
2 803
6 084

3 069
1 657
3 142

1 289
779
1 425

502
393
652

143
191
301

22
67
110

15
29

3
5

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ANALYTICAL PLANETARY SOLUTION VSOP2000

TABLE III
Maximum difference between VSOP82 and DE200 over one century
Planet

Mercury
Venus
EMB
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune

a/a

1010

1010

8
54
61
177
580
1 344
2 035
8 431

29
205
168
534
1 874
4 468
2 172
8 143

mas

1010

1010

1010

1010

0.60
4.23
3.47
11.01
38.65
92.16
44.80
167.96

22
130
161
326
1 300
3 345
1 864
7 210

24
100
141
339
1 403
2 647
2 101
3 670

7
64
83
96
152
145
177
132

9
54
60
112
104
203
200
212

TABLE IV
Maximum difference between VSOP2000 and DE403 over one century
Planet

Mercury
Venus
EMB
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune

a/a

1010

1010

1.0
1.0
1.4
5.9
11.7
47.4
82.1
104.4

13
14
17
140
23
85
72
90

mas

1010

1010

1010

1010

0.27
0.29
0.35
2.89
0.47
1.75
1.49
1.86

8
10
3
12
15
19
66
61

4
3
17
30
16
35
57
68

0.5
1.1
3.4
2.6
5.0
7.8
38.2
4.1

0.8
1.5
4.2
7.2
4.3
8.1
11.0
11.3

The important difference for the mean longitude of Mars (2.89 mas) is due to
the computation of the perturbations by the asteroids which have to be improved,
in particular the perturbations by Vesta.
The graphs of the differences between VSOP82 and DE200 are given in
Bretagnon (1982). Figure 1 gives the differences between VSOP2000 and DE403
for the mean longitudes of the Earth, Mars and Jupiter over one century (1900
2000). The unit is mas.
4. Solutions in Rectangular Coordinates Expressed in TDB and in TCB
From the heliocentric positions expressed in elliptic coordinates, we have computed the rectangular coordinates of the eight planets as well as for Pluto, the

210

X. MOISSON AND P. BRETAGNON

Figure 1. Difference between VSOP2000 and DE403 over (19002000). The unit is mas.

five asteroids and, using the values of the planetary masses of IERS1992, we
have determined the vector (Solar System Barycenter)-Sun. The comparison to
DE403 shows differences of order of 500 meters over (19002000). These differences essentially come from the differences between the planetary masses used in
VSOP2000 and in DE403 for Saturn and Uranus. If we compute the vector SSB
Sun with the values of the planetary masses of DE403, the residuals become 50 m.
Let us note that, even with the masses of IERS1992, the differences about the
velocity are very small : less than 0.1 mm per second. By comparison, let us recall
that the space project GAIA needs 15 mm per second.
The solutions expressed in rectangular coordinates and referred to the Sun and
to the Solar System Barycenter are named VSOP2000A and VSOP2000B.
The elliptic solution VSOP2000 and the rectangular solutions VSOP2000A
and VSOP2000B are functions of the Barycentric Dynamical Time (TDB). We
have transformed these solutions in order to represent them in Barycentric Coordinate Time (TCB). We denote the heliocentric solution expressed in TCB by
VSOP2000C and the barycentric one by VSOP2000D.

ANALYTICAL PLANETARY SOLUTION VSOP2000

211

5. Links Between the Planetocentrie Coordinate Times (TCP) and TCB

With the help of the solutions expressed in TCB, we have computed the relation
between the Planetocentric Coordinate Time and TCB at the second order of c2
for Mercury, Venus, the Earth, Mars, and the Moon.
Given u the Planetocentric Coordinate Time and t the TCB, we have the relation


1
v2
du
= 1+
h(2)

+
00
dt
2
c2
 

i
1 v 4 3 (2) v 2 1 (4) 1 (2) 2
(3) v
.
+ 4 + h00 2 + h00 (h00 ) + h0i
8c
4
c
2
8
c
i
In the case of the Earth, the term h(3)
0i (v /c) gives a contribution to the constant
du
20
and is negligible. The main term gives, in the
part of dt (1 LC ) less than 10
relation between u and t, a secular part of 1.48 108 and the second order term
of 1.1 1016 .
For the Earth Table V gives a comparison of LC with the determinations by
Fukushima (1995) and by Irwin and Fukushima (1999). In this latter solution the
uncertainty is 2 1017 .

TABLE V
Secular term LC of TCBTCG
Solution

LC 108

Fukushima (1995)
Irwin and Fukushima (1999)
This work

1.480 826 845 7

1.480 826 867 41
1.480 826 866 70

Irwin and Fukushima (1999) show differences for the full TCBTCG series
between their solution and the Fairhead and Bretagnon (1990) solution, which are
smaller than 4 ns over 50 years (19652015). Irwin (2000) has compared our new
solution with his solution TE405. The differences (Figure 2) over (19652015) are
smaller than 0.2 ns and their derivatives are smaller than 1016 .
6. Geodetic Precession-Nutation
We have computed the analytical expressions of the geodetic precession-nutation
for Mercury, Venus, the Earth and Mars. For each planet P, the derivative of the
geodetic precession-nutation is given by

 GMA  3
i
i
i
(vP rP A ) + 2(vA rP A )
F =
3
2
r
P
A
A =P

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X. MOISSON AND P. BRETAGNON

Figure 2. Differences of our TCBTCG solution and TE405 time ephemerides (with units of 109 s)
and their derivatives (with units of 1015 ) over (19652015).

For the Earth, we obtain the well-known secular term the geodetic precession of
1.92 per century and periodic terms. The main periodic term has an amplitude
of 153 as and a period of 1 year. With the help of the quantities F 1 , F 2 , F 3 and
from the dynamical Euler angles , , and the kinematical Euler angles K , K ,
and K are obtained by the following relations computed from the expressions of
Brumberg (1996). We give the terms greater than 0.1 as as
K = 19198.8t 0.050t 2
34.28 sin(3 ) 149.22 cos(3 ) + 3.01 sin(3 + D F )
1.73 sin(23 ) + 0.84 cos(23 )
0.26 sin(25 56 ) 0.32 cos(25 56 ) 0.37 sin(D)
0.05 sin(43 84 + 35 ) + 0.17 cos(43 84 + 35 ) +
+ 0.21 sin(3 5 ) 0.13 sin(22 23 )
K = 0.002t 2
1.30 cos(3 + D F ) +
+ 0.17 sin(25 56 ) 0.09 cos(25 56 )
K = 0.055t 2
3.28 sin(3 + D F ) +
+ 0.24 sin(25 56 ) + 0.36 cos(25 56 )
where 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 are the mean mean longitudes of Venus, the Earth, Mars,
Jupiter, Saturn and D and F the Delaunays angles. The unit is as and the time t
is expressed in Julian years.

ANALYTICAL PLANETARY SOLUTION VSOP2000

213

Let us note that the periodic part of the nutation of the Eulerian angles and
is strictly identical to the periodic part of the nutation in longitude and in obliquity.

7. Conclusion
The solution VSOP2000 improves by an order of magnitude the accuracy of the
previous planetary analytical solutions. Its representation as function of TCB allows us to rigorously determine the relations between the barycentric time and
the geocentric time as well as the expressions of the geodetic precession-nutation
in accordance with the recommendations adopted by IAU in 1991 and in 2000
(recommendation B1.3).
A next step will be the improvement of the theory of Mars by a better determination of the perturbations due to the asteroids.

References
Bretagnon, P.: 1982, Astr. Astrophys 114, 278.
Brumberg, V. A.: 1991, Essential Relativistic Celestial Mechanics, Adam Hilger.
Brumberg, V. A.: 1996, IAU Collquium 165, Poznan, 439.
Chapront, J., Chapront-Touz, M., Francou, G.: 2000, in: Capitaine N. (ed.), Systmes de
rfrences spatio-temporels, Journes 2000, Observatoire de Paris.
Einstein A., Infeld, L., Hoffman, B.: 1938, Ann. Math. 39, 65.
Fairhead, L. Bretagnon, P.: 1990, Astr. Astrophys. 229, 240.
Fienga, A.: 1999, Thse, Observatoire de Paris.
Fukushima, T.: 1995, Astr. Astrophys. 294, 895.
Irwin, A. W., Fukushima, T.: 1999, Astr. Astrophys. 348, 642.
Irwin, A. W.: 2000, private communication.
McCarthy, D. D.: 1992, IERS STandards (1992) IERS Technical Note 13, Observatoire de Paris.
Simon, J-L.: 2000, private communication.
Standish, E. M.: 1982, Astr. Astrophys. 114, 297.
Standish, E. M., Newhall, X. X., Williams, J. G., Folkner, W. F.: 1995, JPLIOM, 314, 10.