Relativistic Effects in the Rotation of Jupiter’s Inner Satellites

Abstract The most significant relativistic effects (the geodetic precession and the geodetic nutation, which consist of the effect of the geodetic rotation) in the rotation of Jupiter’s inner satellites were investigated in this research. The calculations of the most essential secular and periodic terms of the geodetic rotation were carried out by the method for studying any bodies of the solar system with long-time ephemeris. As a result, for these Jupiter’s satellites, these terms of their geodetic rotation were first determined in the rotational elements with respect to the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF) equator and the equinox of the J2000.0 and in the Euler angles relative to their proper coordinate systems. The study shows that in the solar system there are objects with significant geodetic rotation, due primarily to their proximity to the central body, and not to its mass.