XII. Conclusions

AAAA members participated in a regular early-morning observing program named Project Jupiter in the Fall of 2002. During each session the separation between planet Jupiter and several of its Moons was recorded.

The observational data obtained by Tim Tyler was entered into an EXCEL spreadsheet, determining the best estimate of the orbital periods:

• 1.7706 days for Jupiter’s moon Io,
• 3.5569 days for Jupiter’s moon Europa,
• 7.1977 days for Jupiter’s moon Ganymede and
• 16.6936 days for Jupiter’s moon Callisto .

The observational data was also used to calculate the mass of Jupiter as 1.8924E27 Kg, a value within 0.3% of available reference data, the weight of objects on Jupiter, and the escape velocity on Jupiter. Similar accuracies were obtained for each of the values.

Due to Tim’s high accuracy in determining the positions of the moons of Jupiter, the mass of Jupiter was also obtained without a reliance on one common assumption. When that assumption was removed, the mass of Jupiter was determined to within 2.4%, a notable achievement!

Attachment C is a suggested press release highlighting Quad-A member Tim Tyler’s participation in Project Jupiter.