Astronomical Applications Department, U.S. Naval Observatory Newcomb Manual Page 5
iteration
loop start
massage
observations
integrate eqs.
of motion
form O-C
residuals
parameter
estimator
O-C
eval
iteration
loop end
observations
reduced
observations
ephemeris
parameters
correlation
matrix
Figure 1. Major Processes.
observations module
parameter
adjustment
module
integration module
physical
model
observation
models
data
data flow
process
parameter feedback
process flow
calculate
positions
At the end of the iterative process, we will have
produced an ephemeris that best fits the observations,
given the model used, as well as the best-fit model
parameters, formal error estimates of those parame-
ters, and the parameter cross-correlations. The
parameter error estimates and parameter correlations
are derived from the partial derivatives and the corre-
lation matrix from the least squares analysis. Experi-
ence with PEP has shown that, normally, at most
only a few iterations are needed.
Chapter 1: Top-Level Structure
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