Gaia Focused Product Release: Asteroid orbital solution

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¹ IMCCE, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Univ. Lille, 77 av. Denfert-Rochereau, 75014 Paris, France
² Université Côte d’Azur, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, CNRS, Laboratoire Lagrange, Bd de l’Observatoire, CS 34229, 06304 Nice Cedex 4, France
³ Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden St., MS 15, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
⁴ Royal Observatory of Belgium, Ringlaan 3, 1180 Brussels, Belgium
⁵ CNES Centre Spatial de Toulouse, 18 avenue Edouard Belin, 31401 Toulouse Cedex 9, France
⁶ INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino, via Osservatorio 20, 10025 Pino Torinese (TO), Italy
⁷ INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Largo Enrico Fermi 5, 50125 Firenze, Italy
⁸ Telespazio for CNES Centre Spatial de Toulouse, 18 avenue Edouard Belin, 31401 Toulouse Cedex 9, France
⁹ Lohrmann Observatory, Technische Universität Dresden, Mommsenstraße 13, 01062 Dresden, Germany
¹⁰ Thales Services for CNES Centre Spatial de Toulouse, 18 avenue Edouard Belin, 31401 Toulouse Cedex 9, France
¹¹ Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, PO Box 64, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
¹² Finnish Geospatial Research Institute FGI, Vuorimiehentie 5, 02150 Espoo, Finland
¹³ Institut UTINAM CNRS UMR6213, Université de Franche-Comté, OSU THETA Franche-Comté Bourgogne, Observatoire de Besançon, BP1615, 25010 Besançon Cedex, France
¹⁴ Institut de Ciències del Cosmos (ICCUB), Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Martí i Franquès 1, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
¹⁵ Departament de Física Quàntica i Astrofísica (FQA), Universitat de Barcelona (UB), c. Martí i Franquès 1, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
¹⁶ Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC), c. Gran Capità 2–4, 08034 Barcelona, Spain
¹⁷ Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, Niels Bohrweg 2, 2333 CA Leiden, The Netherlands
¹⁸ INAF – Osservatorio astronomico di Padova, Vicolo Osservatorio 5, 35122 Padova, Italy
¹⁹ European Space Agency (ESA), European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), Keplerlaan 1, 2201AZ Noordwijk, The Netherlands
²⁰ GEPI, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, CNRS, 5 Place Jules Janssen, 92190 Meudon, France
²¹ Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IPAG, 38000 Grenoble, France
²² Astronomisches Rechen-Institut, Zentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg, Mönchhofstr. 12–14, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
²³ Laboratoire d’astrophysique de Bordeaux, Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, B18N, allée Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 33615 Pessac, France
²⁴ Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA, UK
²⁵ Department of Astronomy, University of Geneva, Chemin Pegasi 51, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland
²⁶ European Space Agency (ESA), European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), Camino bajo del Castillo s/n, Urbanización Villafranca del Castillo, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28692 Madrid, Spain
²⁷ Aurora Technology for European Space Agency (ESA), Camino bajo del Castillo s/n, Urbanización Villafranca del Castillo, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28692 Madrid, Spain
²⁸ Lund Observatory, Division of Astrophysics, Department of Physics, Lund University, Box 43, 22100 Lund, Sweden
²⁹ Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Bartycka 18, 00-716 Warsaw, Poland
³⁰ Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
³¹ Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Holmbury St Mary, Dorking, Surrey RH5 6NT, UK
³² Department of Astronomy, University of Geneva, Chemin d’Ecogia 16, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland
³³ DAPCOM Data Services, c. dels Vilabella 5–7, 80500 Vic Barcelona, Spain
³⁴ ALTEC S.p.a., Corso Marche 79, 10146 Torino, Italy
³⁵ Sednai Sàrl, Geneva, Switzerland
³⁶ Gaia DPAC Project Office, ESAC, Camino bajo del Castillo s/n, Urbanizatión Villafranca del Castillo, Madrid 28692, Spain
³⁷ Telespazio UK S.L. for European Space Agency (ESA), Camino bajo del Castillo s/n, Urbanizatión Villafranca del Castillo, Madrid 28692, Spain
³⁸ SYRTE, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, LNE, 61 avenue de l’Observatoire, 75014 Paris, France
³⁹ Serco Gestión de Negocios for European Space Agency (ESA), Camino bajo del Castillo s/n, Urbanization Villafranca del Castillo, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28692 Madrid, Spain
⁴⁰ INAF – Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio di Bologna, via Piero Gobetti 93/3, 40129 Bologna, Italy
⁴¹ Institut d’Astrophysique et de Géophysique, Université de Liège, 19c Allée du 6 Août, 4000 Liège, Belgium
⁴² CRAAG – Centre de Recherche en Astronomie, Astrophysique et Géophysique, Route de l’Observatoire, Bp 63, Bouzareah, 16340 Algiers, Algeria
⁴³ Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ, UK
⁴⁴ RHEA for European Space Agency (ESA), Camino bajo del Castillo s/n, Urbanization Villafranca del Castillo, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28692 Madrid, Spain
⁴⁵ CIGUS CITIC – Department of Computer Science and Information Technologies, University of A Coruña, Campus de Elviña s/n, A Coruña 15071, Spain
⁴⁶ ATG Europe for European Space Agency (ESA), Camino bajo del Castillo s/n, Urbanizatión Villafranca del Castillo, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28692 Madrid, Spain
⁴⁷ Kavli Institute for Cosmology Cambridge, Institute of Astronomy, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA, UK
⁴⁸ Department of Astrophysics, Astronomy and Mechanics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis, Zografos, 15783 Athens, Greece
⁴⁹ Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
⁵⁰ CENTRA, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Edif. C8, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal
⁵¹ INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania, via S. Sofia 78, 95123 Catania, Italy
⁵² Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia “Ettore Majorana”, Università di Catania, Via S. Sofia 64, 95123 Catania, Italy
⁵³ Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Observatoire astronomique de Strasbourg, UMR 7550, 11 rue de l’Université, 67000 Strasbourg, France
⁵⁴ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, Via Frascati 33, 00078 Monte Porzio Catone (Roma), Italy
⁵⁵ Space Science Data Center – ASI, Via del Politecnico SNC, 00133 Roma, Italy
⁵⁶ HE Space Operations BV for European Space Agency (ESA), Keplerlaan 1, 2201AZ Noordwijk, The Netherlands
⁵⁷ Dpto. de Inteligencia Artificial, UNED, c/ Juan del Rosal 16, 28040 Madrid, Spain
⁵⁸ Institut d’Astronomie et d’Astrophysique, Université Libre de Bruxelles CP 226, Boulevard du Triomphe, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
⁵⁹ Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP), An der Sternwarte 16, 14482 Potsdam, Germany
⁶⁰ Konkoly Observatory, Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Eötvös Loránd Research Network (ELKH), MTA Centre of Excellence, Konkoly Thege Miklós út 15–17, 1121 Budapest, Hungary
⁶¹ ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Institute of Physics, 1117 Pázmány Péter sétány 1A, Budapest, Hungary
⁶² Instituut voor Sterrenkunde, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200D, 3001 Leuven, Belgium
⁶³ Department of Astrophysics/IMAPP, Radboud University, PO Box 9010, 6500 GL Nijmegen, The Netherlands
⁶⁴ University of Vienna, Department of Astrophysics, Türkenschanzs-traße 17, A1180 Vienna, Austria
⁶⁵ Institute of Physics, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Observatoire de Sauverny, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland
⁶⁶ Quasar Science Resources for European Space Agency (ESA), Camino bajo del Castillo s/n, Urbanizatión Villafranca del Castillo, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28692 Madrid, Spain
⁶⁷ LASIGE, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Edif. C6, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal
⁶⁸ School of Physics and Astronomy , University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK
⁶⁹ School of Physics and Astronomy, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel
⁷⁰ Cavendish Laboratory, JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK
⁷¹ National Observatory of Athens, I. Metaxa and Vas. Pavlou, Palaia Penteli, 15236 Athens, Greece
⁷² University of Turin, Department of Physics, Via Pietro Giuria 1, 10125 Torino, Italy
⁷³ Depto. Estadística e Investigatión Operativa. Universidad de Cádiz, Avda. República Saharaui s/n, 11510 Puerto Real, Cádiz, Spain
⁷⁴ EURIX S.r.l., Corso Vittorio Emanuele II 61, 10128 Torino, Italy
⁷⁵ Porter School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel
⁷⁶ ATOS for CNES Centre Spatial de Toulouse, 18 avenue Edouard Belin, 31401 Toulouse Cedex 9, France
⁷⁷ HE Space Operations BV for European Space Agency (ESA), Camino bajo del Castillo s/n, Urbanizatión Villafranca del Castillo, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28692 Madrid, Spain
⁷⁸ LFCA/DAS, Universidad de Chile, CNRS, Casilla, 36-D Santiago, Chile
⁷⁹ SISSA – Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati, via Bonomea 265, 34136 Trieste, Italy
⁸⁰ University of Turin, Department of Computer Sciences, Corso Svizzera 185, 10149 Torino, Italy
⁸¹ Dpto. de Matemática Aplicada y Ciencias de la Computatión, Univ. de Cantabria, ETS Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos, Avda. de los Castros s/n, 39005 Santander, Spain
⁸² Institut de Física d’Altes Energies (IFAE), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Campus UAB, 08193 Bellaterra (Barcelona), Spain
⁸³ Port d’Informació Científica (PIC), Campus UAB, C. Albareda s/n, 08193 Bellaterra (Barcelona), Spain
⁸⁴ Instituto de Astrofísica, Universidad Andres Bello, Fernandez Concha 700, Las Condes, Santiago RM, Chile
⁸⁵ Centre for Astrophysics Research, University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, AL10 9AB, Hatfield, UK
⁸⁶ University of Turin, Mathematical Department “G.Peano”, Via Carlo Alberto 10, 10123 Torino, Italy
⁸⁷ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico d’Abruzzo, Via Mentore Mag-gini, 64100 Teramo, Italy
⁸⁸ Instituto de Astronomia, Geofìsica e Ciências Atmosféricas, Universidade de São Paulo, Cidade Universitaria, Rua do Matão 1226, 05508-900 São Paulo, SP, Brazil
⁸⁹ Mésocentre de calcul de Franche-Comté, Université de Franche-Comté, 16 route de Gray, 25030 Besançon Cedex, France
⁹⁰ Ruder Boškovic Institute, Bijenicka cesta 54, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
⁹¹ Astrophysics Research Centre, School of Mathematics and Physics, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, UK
⁹² Data Science and Big Data Lab, Pablo de Olavide University, 41013 Seville, Spain
⁹³ Institute of Astrophysics, FORTH, Crete, Greece
⁹⁴ Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), Plaça Eusebi Güell 1–3, 08034 Barcelona, Spain
⁹⁵ ETSE Telecomunicación, Universidade de Vigo, Campus Lagoas-Marcosende, 36310 Vigo, Galicia, Spain
⁹⁶ F.R.S.-FNRS, Rue d’Egmont 5, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
⁹⁷ Asteroid Engineering Laboratory, Luleå University of Technology, 848, 981 28 Kiruna, Sweden
⁹⁸ Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen, Landleven 12, 9747 AD Groningen, The Netherlands
⁹⁹ IAC – Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, Via Láctea s/n, 38200 La Laguna S.C., Tenerife, Spain
¹⁰⁰ Department of Astrophysics, University of La Laguna, Via Láctea s/n, 38200 La Laguna S.C., Tenerife, Spain
¹⁰¹ Astronomical Observatory, University of Warsaw, Al. Ujazdowskie 4, 00-478 Warszawa, Poland
¹⁰² Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University, Cotter Road, Weston ACT 2611, Australia
¹⁰³ European Space Agency (ESA, retired), European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), Keplerlaan 1, 2201AZ Noordwijk, The Netherlands
¹⁰⁴ LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Université de Paris, 5 Place Jules Janssen, 92190 Meudon, France
¹⁰⁵ Université Rennes, CNRS, IPR (Institut de Physique de Rennes) – UMR 6251, 35000 Rennes, France
¹⁰⁶ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, Via Moiariello 16, 80131 Napoli, Napoli
¹⁰⁷ Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 80 Nandan Road, Shanghai 200030, PR China
¹⁰⁸ University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.19(A) Yuquan Road, Shijingshan District, Beijing 100049, PR China
¹⁰⁹ São Paulo State University, Grupo de Dinâmica Orbital e Planetolo-gia, CEP 12516-410 Guaratinguetá, SP, Brazil
¹¹⁰ Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Juliane Maries Vej 30, 2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark
¹¹¹ DXC Technology, Retortvej 8, 2500 Valby, Denmark
¹¹² Las Cumbres Observatory, 6740 Cortona Drive Suite 102, Goleta CA 93117, USA
¹¹³ CIGUS CITIC, Department of Nautical Sciences and Marine Engineering, University of A Coruña, Paseo de Ronda 51, 15071 A Coruña, Spain
¹¹⁴ Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University, 146 Brownlow Hill, Liverpool L3 5RF, UK
¹¹⁵ IRAP, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, CNES, 9 Av. colonel Roche, BP 44346, 31028 Toulouse Cedex 4, France
¹¹⁶ MTA CSFK Lendület Near-Field Cosmology Research Group, Konkoly Observatory, MTA Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Konkoly Thege Miklós út 15–17, 1121 Budapest, Hungary
¹¹⁷ Pervasive Technologies s.l., c. Saragossa 118, 08006 Barcelona, Spain
¹¹⁸ School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK
¹¹⁹ Villanova University, Department of Astrophysics and Planetary Science, 800 E Lancaster Avenue, Villanova PA 19085, USA
¹²⁰ Departmento de Física de la Tierra y Astrofísica, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
¹²¹ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, via E. Bianchi 46, 23807 Merate (LC), Italy
¹²² National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan
¹²³ Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel
¹²⁴ Centre de Données Astronomique de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France
¹²⁵ University of Exeter, School of Physics and Astronomy, Stocker Road, Exeter EX2 7SJ, UK
¹²⁶ Departamento de Astrofísica, Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC-INTA), ESA-ESAC, Camino Bajo del Castillo s/n, 28692 Vil-lanueva de la Cañada, Madrid, Spain
¹²⁷ naXys, Department of Mathematics, University of Namur, Rue de Bruxelles 61, 5000 Namur, Belgium
¹²⁸ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, via G.B. Tiepolo 11, 34131 Trieste, Italy
¹²⁹ H H Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TL, UK
¹³⁰ Escuela de Arquitectura y Politécnica – Universidad Europea de Valencia, Spain
¹³¹ Escuela Superior de Ingeniería y Tecnología – Universidad Interna-cional de la Rioja, Spain
¹³² Department of Physics and Astronomy G. Galilei, University of Padova, Vicolo dell’Osservatorio 3, 35122 Padova, Italy
¹³³ Applied Physics Department, Universidade de Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain
¹³⁴ Instituto de Física e Ciencias Aeroespaciais (IFCAE), Universidade de Vigo, Á Campus de As Lagoas, 32004 Ourense, Spain
¹³⁵ Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210023, PR China
¹³⁶ Sorbonne Université, CNRS, UMR7095, Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, 98bis bd. Arago, 75014 Paris, France
¹³⁷ Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana, Jadranska ulica 19, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
¹³⁸ Institute of Mathematics, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland

Received: 23 June 2023
Accepted: 12 September 2023

Abstract

Context. We report the exploitation of a sample of Solar System observations based on data from the third Gaia Data Release (Gaia DR3) of nearly 157 000 asteroids. It extends the epoch astrometric solution over the time coverage planned for the Gaia DR4, which is not expected before the end of 2025. This data set covers more than one full orbital period for the vast majority of these asteroids. The orbital solutions are derived from the Gaia data alone over a relatively short arc compared to the observation history of many of these asteroids.

Aims. The work aims to produce orbital elements for a large set of asteroids based on 66 months of accurate astrometry provided by Gaia and to assess the accuracy of these orbital solutions with a comparison to the best available orbits derived from independent observations. A second validation is performed with accurate occultation timings.

Methods. We processed the raw astrometric measurements of Gaia to obtain astrometric positions of moving objects with 1D sub-mas accuracy at the bright end. For each asteroid that we matched to the data, an orbit fitting was attempted in the form of the best fit of the initial conditions at the median epoch. The force model included Newtonian and relativistic accelerations to derive the observation equations, which were solved with a linear least-squares fit.

Results. Orbits are provided in the form of state vectors in the International Celestial Reference Frame for 156 764 asteroids, including near-Earth objects, main-belt asteroids, and Trojans. For the asteroids with the best observations, the (formal) relative uncertainty σ_a/a is better than 10⁻¹⁰. Results are compared to orbits available from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and MPC. Their orbits are based on much longer data arcs, but from positions of lower quality. The relative differences in semi-major axes have a mean of 5 × 10⁻¹⁰ and a scatter of 5 × 10⁻⁹.