The JPL Planetary and Lunar Ephemerides DE440 and DE441
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Abstract The planetary and lunar ephemerides called DE440 and DE441 have been generated by fitting numerically integrated orbits to ground-based and space-based observations. Compared to the previous general-purpose ephemerides DE430, seven years of new data have been added to compute DE440 and DE441, with improved dynamical models and data calibration. The orbit of Jupiter has improved substantially by fitting to the Juno radio range and Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) data of the Juno spacecraft. The orbit of Saturn has been improved by radio range and VLBA data of the Cassini spacecraft, with improved estimation of the spacecraft orbit. The orbit of Pluto has been improved from use of stellar occultation data reduced against the Gaia star catalog. The ephemerides DE440 and DE441 are fit to the same data set, but DE441 assumes no damping between the lunar liquid core and the solid mantle, which avoids a divergence when integrated backward in time. Therefore, DE441 is less accurate than DE440 for the current century, but covers a much longer duration of years −13,200 to +17,191, compared to DE440 covering years 1550–2650.
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The uncertainty in Saturn's perihelion yields a linear accuracy σr ≃ 3.4 m over 13 years, which agrees with published Cassini-based orbital accuracy.
“The value of σ π in the last column of Table 1 yields σ r ≃ 3.4 m over 13 years, which agrees with the published Cassini-based orbital accuracy [24,29]”
From Has Kronos Devoured Planet Nine and Its Epigones? (2026) · cites this paper as [29]
The Introduction says Saturn’s orbit is determined using Cassini range and VLBA data, and the Figure 11 caption reports Cassini range residuals of about 3 m. That is consistent in scale with 3.4 m, but a range residual is not a stated orbital-accuracy estimate. The paper does not give a 3.4 m uncertainty derived from Saturn’s perihelion over 13 years. (LLM, conf=0.82)
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Research works printed but not linked: 37
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Testing theories of gravity with planetary ephemerides
Fienga, A., & Minazzoli, O. (2024) · Living Reviews in Relativity · doi:10.1007/s41114-023-00047-0 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Has Kronos Devoured Planet Nine and Its Epigones?
Iorio, L. (2026) · Universe · doi:10.3390/universe12020042
“From the definition of Θ µν and using equation (2), we have In other words, Θ µν will depend on the Lagrangian of matter, that is, this can refer to the case of the electromagnetic field, the massless scalar field, the case of the perfect fluid, among others.”
- Authors
- Park, R. S., Folkner, W. M., Williams, J. G., & Boggs, D. H.
- Affiliations
- California Institute of Technology (US)
- Corresponding author
- Park, Ryan S.
- Venue
- The Astronomical Journal
- Publisher
- American Astronomical Society
- Published
- 2021-02-08
- Volume
- 161
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 105
- ISSN
- 0004-6256 (ISSN-L)
- 1538-3881
- OpenAlex
- W3127730153
- Cited by
- 520
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 91 · 2025: 135 · 2024: 129 · 2023: 83 · 2022: 57 · 2021: 24 · 2019: 1
- FWCI
- 39.38
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- The Astronomical Journal (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- California Institute of Technology
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Astro and Planetary Science
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Aerospace Engineering › Spacecraft Dynamics and Control
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › History and Developments in Astronomy
- Keywords
- planetary ephemerides, lunar ephemeris, numerical orbit integration, Juno spacecraft, Cassini spacecraft, stellar occultation, Very Long Baseline Array, backward time integration
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