Determination of the orbits of the natural satellites of Saturn from optical observations

The research presented in this thesis concerns the determination of the orbits of the main satellites of the Saturnian system by means of optical, Earth-based observations. The purpose of this work is the development of a software tool for numerical orbit determination and estimation of the parameters that characterize the dynamical environment of the Saturnian system, such as the gravitational parameters and the planetary zonal gravity harmonics.