J. A. Lopez Orti

Figures of equilibrium in close binary systems

The equilibrium configurations of close binary systems are analyzed. The autogravitational, centrifugal and tidal potentials are expanded in Clairauts coordinates. From the set of the total potential angular terms an integral equations system is derived. The reduction of them to ordinary differential equations and the determination of the boundary conditions allow a formulation of the problem in terms of a single variable.The equilibrium configurations of close binary systems are analyzed. The autogravitational, centrifugal and tidal potentials are expanded in Clairauts coordinates. From the set of the total potential angular terms an integral equations system is derived. The reduction of them to ordinary differential equations and the determination of the boundary conditions allow a formulation of the problem in terms of a single variable.

Digital Image Processing in the Analysis of Astrometric Plates

In this paper, we display an improvement to our process of semi-automatic measuring of astrometric plates, in which the photometric sensor is substituted by a CCD system of image getting and digitalization. The advantages of this method are analyzed taking into account the possibilities of the image analysis in the space and frequency domain.

Improved Method for Orbital Elements Differential Correction.

As was pointed out by IAU in 1976, an important problem in fundamental astronomy is the improvement of the vernal equinox and equator positions. To this aim, it is necessary to know the accurate values of minor planets orbital elements. The classical methods of orbital elements differential corrections are based on linking the observations at different epochs considering equal derivatives respect to the initial and osculating elements.

Automated astrographic plates measuring process

The astrographic plates measuring process applied at the Astronomical Observatory of Valencia has been described.The measure of astrographic plates of our minor planets observation programme has been carried out by means of a binocular microscope with a photometer, held by a personal computer through an interface. The process of measure in each position of the plate holder is automated, once two stars are selected and the sequence of the objects to be measured is defined.The process will be improved in the next future, by the substitution of the searching device (a photometer) by a CCD camera plus a digitizer board.