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Description
Observations of Mars were carried out with the Zonal Astrograph at Nikolaev Astronomical Observatory. The mean period of observations in opposition was 156 days. The orbits of Mars and Earth were covered 7.3 and 3.8 times respectively. After defining more exactly some computational elements and the planet's phase, 441 positions were obtained in ICRS system. Coordinates of reference stars were taken from Hipparcos and Tycho catalogues, and their proper motions were taken from the ACTRC catalogue. The standard errors in right ascension and declination are ±0."21 and ±0."22 respectively, in accordance with accuracy estimations of the Institute of Applied Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Science. These standard errors are the best among all known photographic observations of Mars. Topocentric right ascension, declination in ICRS system (J2000.0), and Julian Days (UTC) are given in the table.
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