<p>I am working on calibration of some observations of low Earth orbit satellites and I am wondering should I include aberration effects? My logic is that diurnal aberration would have neglegible magnitude for such low orbit (I have at best 2-3 arcsecs of precision) and annual aberration does not have any effect, because satellites are rotating around a Sun together with Earth. Is my logic correct or magnitudes of aberration effects are bigger than I think?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-11-16T21:54:53.203Z
Low Earth satellite speeds are about 8 km/s.  The Earth’s 35 km/s motion results in 20 arcsec aberration.  So, you should worry.
eshaya
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-12-05T11:13:02.053Z
@eshaya 35km/s refers to Earth speed around the Sun, right? From Sun POV satellites that are orbiting Earth are orbiting Sun with close to the same speed.
jlipinski
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-12-06T17:33:45.427Z
Yes, the 35km/s refers to Earth’s motion around he Sun.  I brought it up for you to use to scale for other relative velocities in your project and decide their magnitudes.
eshaya
<observational-astronomy><orbit><amateur-observing><orbital-mechanics>
Should you include aberration effects during low Earth orbit observations?
jlipinski
# Should you include aberration effects during low Earth orbit observations?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2023-11-15)

I am working on calibration of some observations of low Earth orbit satellites and I am wondering should I include aberration effects? My logic is that diurnal aberration would have neglegible magnitude for such low orbit (I have at best 2-3 arcsecs of precision) and annual aberration does not have any effect, because satellites are rotating around a Sun together with Earth. Is my logic correct or magnitudes of aberration effects are bigger than I think?

**Tags:** observational-astronomy, orbit, amateur-observing, orbital-mechanics

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Low Earth satellite speeds are about 8 km/s.  The Earth’s 35 km/s motion results in 20 arcsec aberration.  So, you should worry.  
> **username_0**: @username_1 35km/s refers to Earth speed around the Sun, right? From Sun POV satellites that are orbiting Earth are orbiting Sun with close to the same speed.  
> **username_1**: Yes, the 35km/s refers to Earth’s motion around he Sun.  I brought it up for you to use to scale for other relative velocities in your project and decide their magnitudes.  

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