Report of Survey for McDonald Observatory, Harvard Radio Astronomy Station, and Vicinity

摘要

A special purpose three-dimensional geodetic survey was conducted in the vicinity of the McDonald Observatory and Harvard Radio Astronomy Station (HRAS) near Ft. Davis, Texas. The observing program included astronomic positions and azimuths, zenith distances, electromagnetic distance measurements, leveling, gravity measurements, Doppler satellite positioning, and a variety of ancillary measurements. Particular care was taken in designing the survey to ensure the vectors connecting the reference points of the McDonald lunar laser ranging system, HRAS very long base line interferometry, and the mobil laser ranging system were determined to uncertainties of a few centimeters (3-5 cm). This report contains descriptive information on the methods employed in the collection, reduction, and analysis of the survey data, tabulations of the observational data, and numerical and interpretive results of the analysis. Particularly significant are the excellent results attained in the zenith distance measurements that enables us to determine the vertical components of the longest vectors (about 8 km) with estimated accuracies of 2 to 4 cm.