The IAU Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotational Elements (WGCCRE) has been given the responsibility by the International Astronomical Union to define the rotational elements of the planets, satellites, asteroids, and comets of the solar system on a systematic basis and to relate their cartographic coordinates rigorously to the rotational elements.
In practice, the Working Group (WG) has accomplished this by issuing a report after every (triennual) IAU General Assembly, which describes the current recommended models for the cartographic coordinates and rotational elements of all planetary bodies where such detailed knowledge exists, e.g. usually via collection by spacecraft.
The IAU Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotational Elements of the Planets and Satellites was established as a consequence of a resolution adopted by Commissions 4 and 16 at the IAU General Assembly at Grenoble in 1976. The resolution reads (IAU Trans. XVIB, p. 144):
Commissions 4 and 16 noting that
(a) confusion exists regarding the present rotation elements of some of the planets
(b) extensive amounts of new data from radar observations and by direct imaging from spacecraft have made cartography of the surfaces of the Moon, Mercury, Venus, and Mars a reality
(c) there will be an extension of these techniques to the mapping of larger satellites of Jupiter and Saturn in the near future
assert that
(a) to avoid a proliferation of inconsistent cartographic and rotational systems, there is a need to define the rotational elements of the planets and satellites on a systematic basis and to relate the new cartographic coordinates rigorously to the rotation elements.
and therefore recommend that
(1) Comission 4 (Ephemerides) and Comission 16 (Physical Study of Planets and Satellites) establish a Joint Working Group to study the cartographic coordinates and rotational elements of the planets and satellites and to report recommendations at the next general assembly of the IAU.
After issuing its first report at the IAU General Assembly at Montreal in 1979, the need for the WG's efforts to continue was recognized, and its existence has been renewed at every IAU meeting since. The WG is currently an Inter Division Working Group of the IAU, operating under the auspices of IAU Division III (Planetary Systems Sciences) and Division I (Fundamental Astronomy). At the IAU General Assembly in Sydney in 2003, it was recognized that similar work is now required about asteroids and comets. The WG was therefore assigned to consider the cartographic coordinates and rotational elements of these bodies. Reflecting this additional responsibility, the name of the WG was changed (shortened) to the IAU/IAG Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotational Elements.
The WG was also recognized as a working group of the International Association of Geodesy beginning with its third report (issued in 1986). This affiliation was dropped after its tenth report (issued in 2007) due to a lack of communication with the IAG, but it may be re-established in the future.
It was also recognized as a working group by the Committee on Space Research beginning with its third report until its sixth report (issued in 1996). COSPAR sponsorship did not continue primarily due to a strong preference that COSPAR working groups hold regular scientific symposia, which was considered outside the needs of the WG. In addition, COSPAR working groups have limited lifetimes.
The first and long time chair of the WG (1979-1997) was the late Merton E. Davies. Membership in the WG has generally changed at least to some extent with the issuance of every report.
Current WG members are listed below, and past members are as indicated in the author list of the publications cited below.
Current Working Group Members (2012 April)
B. A. Archinal (Chair)
U.S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, AZ, USA
e-mail: barchinal@usgs.gov
M. F. A’Hearn
University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
A. Conrad
W.M. Keck Observatory, Kamuela, HI, USA
G. J. Consolmagno
Vatican Observatory, Vatican City, Vatican City State
R. Courtin
LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, Paris, France
T. Fukushima
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Tokyo, Japan
D. Hestroffer
IMCCE, Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, Paris, France
J. L. Hilton
U.S. Naval Observatory, Washington, DC, USA
G. Neumann
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
J. Oberst
DLR Berlin Adlershof, Berlin, Germany
P. K. Seidelmann
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
P. Stooke
University of Western Ontario, London, Canada
D. J. Tholen
University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, USA
P. C. Thomas
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
I. P. Williams
Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
The first report of the WG was presented to the General Assembly at Montreal in 1979 and published in the Trans. IAU XVIIB, 72-79, 1980. The report with appendices was published in Celestial Mechanics 22, 205-230, 1980. The guiding principles and conventions that were adopted by the Group and the rationale for their acceptance were presented in that report and its appendices. The second report of the Working Group was published in the Trans. IAU XVIIIB, 151-162, 1983, and also with an appendix and references in Celestial Mechanics 29, 309-321, 1983. The following table summarizes the references to all the reports, and the reports are listed in detail below.
| Report | General Assembly | Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Montreal in 1979 | 22, 205-230, 1980. |
| 2 | Patras in 1982 | 29, 309-321, 1983. |
| 3 | New Delhi in 1985 | 39, 103-113, 1986. |
| 4 | Baltimore in 1988 | 46, 187-204, 1989. |
| 5 | Buenos Aires in 1991 | 53, 377-397, 1992. |
| 6 | Hague in 1994 | 63, 127-148, 1996. |
| 7 | Kyoto in 1997 | no report |
| 8 | Manchester in 2000 | 82, 83-110, 2002. |
| 9 | Sydney in 2003 | 91, 203-215, 2005. |
| 10 | Prague in 2006 | 98, 155-180, 2002. |
| 11 | Rio de Janerio in 2009 | 109, 401-403. |
| Erratum to reports 10 and 11 | 110, 401-403 |
M. E. Davies (Chair), V. K. Abalakin, R. L. Duncombe, H. Masursky, B. Morando, T. C. Owen, P. K. Seidelmann, A. T. Sinclair, G. A. Wilkins, C. A. Cross (consultant), and Y. S. Tjuflin (consultant) (1980). "Report of the IAU Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotation Elements of the Planets and Satellites," in Patrick A. Wayman (ed.) Proceedings of the Seventeenth General Assembly Montreal 1979, Transactions of the International Astronomical Union, XVIIB, pp. 72-79. [Not including Annexes 1-3 and bibliography.]
M. E. Davies (Chair), V. K. Abalakin, C. A. Cross, R. L. Duncombe, H. Masursky, B. Morando, T. C. Owen, P. K. Seidelmann, A. T. Sinclair, G. A. Wilkins, and Y. S. Tjuflin (1980). "Report of the IAU Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotation Elements of the Planets and Satellites," Celestial Mechanics, 22, pp. 205-230. [Includes Annexes 1-3 and bibliography.] Available from ADS.
M. E. Davies (Chair), V. K. Abalakin, J. H. Lieske, P. K. Seidelmann, A. T. Sinclair, A. M. Sinzi, B. A. Smith, and Y. S. Tjuflin (consultant) (1983). "Report of the IAU Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotation Elements of the Planets and Satellites: 1982," in Richard M. West (ed.) Proceedings of the Eighteenth General Assembly Patras 1982, Transactions of the International Astronomical Union, XVIIIB, pp. 151-162. [Not including Appendix and References.]
M. E. Davies (Chair), V. K. Abalakin, J. H. Lieske, P. K. Seidelmann, A. T. Sinclair, A. M. Sinzi, B. A. Smith, and Y. S. Tjuflin (consultant) (1983). "Report of the IAU Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotation Elements of the Planets and Satellites: 1982," Celestial Mechanics, 29, pp. 309-321. [Including Appendix and References.] Available from ADS.
M. E. Davies (Chair), V. K. Abalakin, M. Bursa, T. Lederle, J. H. Lieske, R. H. Rapp, P. K. Seidelmann, A. T. Sinclair, V. G. Teifel, and Y. S. Tjuflin (consultant) (1986). "Report of the IAU/IAG/COSPAR Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotation Elements of the Planets and Satellites: 1985," Celestial Mechanics, 39, pp. 103-113. Available from ADS.
M. E. Davies (Chair), V. K. Abalakin, M. Bursa, G. E. Hunt, J. H. Lieske, B. Morando, R. H. Rapp, P. K. Seidelmann, A. T. Sinclair, and Y. S. Tjuflin (consultant) (1989). "Report of the IAU/IAG/COSPAR Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotation Elements of the Planets and Satellites: 1988," Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy, 46, pp. 187-204. Available from ADS.
M. E. Davies (Chair), V. K. Abalakin, A. Brahic, M. Bursa, B. H. Chovitz, P. K. Seidelmann, A. T. Sinclair, and Y. S. Tjuflin (consultant) (1992). "Report of the IAU/IAG/COSPAR Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotation Elements of the Planets and Satellites: 1991," Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy, 53, pp. 377-397. Available from ADS.
M. E. Davies (Chair), V. K. Abalakin, M. Bursa, J. H. Lieske, B. Morando, D. Morrrison, P. K. Seidelmann (Vice-Chair), A. T. Sinclair, B. Yallop, and Y. S. Tjuflin (consultant) (1996). "Report of the IAU/IAG/COSPAR Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotation Elements of the Planets and Satellites: 1994," Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy, 63, pp. 127-148. Available from ADS.
Not issued.
P. K. Seidelmann (Chair), V. K. Abalakin, M. Bursa, M. E. Davies, C. De Bergh, J. H. Lieske, J. Oberst, J. L. Simon, E. M Standish, P. Stooke, and P. C. Thomas (2002). "Report of the IAU/IAG Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotation Elements of the Planets and Satellites: 2000," Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy, 82, pp. 83-110. Available from http://www.springerlink.com/content/e637756732j60270/fulltext.pdf. ADS Services.
P. K. Seidelmann (Chair), B. A. Archinal (Vice-Chair), M. F. A'Hearn, D. P. Cruikshank, J. L. Hilton, H. U. Keller, J. Oberst, J. L. Simon, P. Stooke, D. J. Tholen, and P. C. Thomas (2005), "Report Of The IAU/IAG Working Group On Cartographic Coordinates And Rotational Elements: 2003," Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy, 91, pp. 203-215. Available from http://www.springerlink.com/content/r82v1117772267kj/. ADS Services.
P. K. Seidelmann (Chair), B. A. Archinal, M. F. A’Hearn, A. Conrad, G. J. Consolmagno, D. Hestroffer, J. L. Hilton, G. A. Krasinsky, G. Neumann, J. Oberst, P. Stooke, E. Tedesco, D. J. Tholen, P. C. Thomas, and I. P. Williams (2007). “Report of the IAU/IAG Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotational Elements: 2006,” Cel. Mech. & Dyn. Ast., 98, 155-180. Available from http://www.springerlink.com/content/e637756732j60270/. ADS Services.
B. A. Archinal (Chair), M. F. A’Hearn, E. Bowell, A. Conrad, G. J. Consolmagno, R. Courtin, T. Fukushima, D. Hestroffer, J. L. Hilton, G. A. Krasinsky, G. Neumann, J. Oberst, P. K. Seidelmann, P. Stooke, D. J. Tholen, P. C. Thomas, and I. P. Williams (2011). “Report of the IAU Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotational Elements: 2009,” Cel. Mech. & Dyn. Ast., 109, no. 2, February, 101-135, doi 10.1007/s10569-010-9320-4. Available from http://www.springerlink.com/content/g272325h45517581/. ADS Services. Also available from Astropedia.
B. A. Archinal (Chair), M. F. A’Hearn, A. Conrad, G. J. Consolmagno, R. Courtin, T. Fukushima, D. Hestroffer, J. L. Hilton, G. A. Krasinsky, G. Neumann, J. Oberst, P. K. Seidelmann, P. Stooke, D. J. Tholen, P. C. Thomas, and I. P. Williams (2011). “Erratum to: Reports of the IAU Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotational Elements: 2006 & 2009,” Cel. Mech. & Dyn. Ast., 110, no. 4, August, 401-403, doi 10.1007/s10569-011-9362-2. Available from http://www.springerlink.com/content/0309650776633081/fulltext.pdf. ADS Services. Also available from Astropedia.