Celestial mechanics

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For other uses of "Celestial", see Celestial (disambiguation). For the journal, see
Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy.

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Classical mechanics
{\displaystyle {\vec {F}}=m{\vec {a}}} {\vec {F}}=m{\vec {a}}
Second law of motion
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Celestial mechanics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the motions of
celestial objects. Historically, celestial mechanics applies principles of physics
(classical mechanics) to astronomical objects, such as stars and planets, to
produce ephemeris data. As an astronomical field of study, celestial mechanics
includes the sub-fields of orbital mechanics (astrodynamics), which deals with the
orbit of an artificial satellite, and lunar theory, which deals with the orbit of
the Moon.

Contents [hide]
1 History
1.1 Johannes Kepler
1.2 Isaac Newton
1.3 Joseph-Louis Lagrange
1.4 Simon Newcomb
1.5 Albert Einstein
2 Examples of problems
3 Perturbation theory
4 See also
5 Notes
6 References
7 Further reading
8 External links
History[edit]
For early theories of the causes of planetary motion, see Dynamics of the celestial
spheres.
Modern analytic celestial mechanics started with Isaac Newton's Principia of 1687.
The name "celestial mechanics" is more recent than that. Newton wrote that the
field should be called "rational mechanics." The term "dynamics" came in a little
later with Gottfried Leibniz, and over a century after Newton, Pierre-Simon Laplace
introduced the term "celestial mechanics." Prior to Kepler there was little
connection between exact, quantitative prediction of planetary positions, using
geometrical or arithmetical techniques, and contemporary discussions of the
physical causes of the planets' motion.

Johannes Kepler[edit]
For detailed treatments of how his laws of planetary motion can be used, see
Kepler's laws of planetary motion and Keplerian problem.
Johannes Kepler (15711630) was the first to closely integrate the predictive
geometrical astronomy, which had been dominant from Ptolemy in the 2nd century to
Copernicus, with physical concepts to produce a New Astronomy, Based upon Causes,
or Celestial Physics in 1609. His work led to the modern laws of planetary orbits,
which he developed using his physical principles and the planetary observations
made by Tycho Brahe. Kepler's model greatly improved the accuracy of predictions of
planetary motion, years before Isaac Newton developed his law of gravitation in
1686.

Isaac Newton[edit]
Isaac Newton (25 December 164231 March 1727) is credited with introducing the idea
that the motion of objects in the heavens, such as planets, the Sun, and the Moon,
and the motion of objects on the ground, like cannon balls and falling apples,
could be described by the same set of physical laws. In this sense he unified
celestial and terrestrial dynamics. Using Newton's law of universal gravitation,
proving Kepler's Laws for the case of a circular orbit is simple. Elliptical orbits
involve more complex calculations, which Newton included in his Principia.

Joseph-Louis Lagrange[edit]
After Newton, Lagrange (25 January 173610 April 1813) attempted to solve the
three-body problem, analyzed the stability of planetary orbits, and discovered the
existence of the Lagrangian points. Lagrange also reformulated the principles of
classical mechanics, emphasizing energy more than force and developing a method to
use a single polar coordinate equation to describe any orbit, even those that are
parabolic and hyperbolic. This is useful for calculating the behaviour of planets
and comets and such. More recently, it has also become useful to calculate
spacecraft trajectories.

Simon Newcomb[edit]
Simon Newcomb (12 March 183511 July 1909) was a Canadian-American astronomer who
revised Peter Andreas Hansen's table of lunar positions. In 1877, assisted by
George William Hill, he recalculated all the major astronomical constants. After
1884, he conceived with A. M. W. Downing a plan to resolve much international
confusion on the subject. By the time he attended a standardisation conference in
Paris, France in May 1886, the international consensus was that all ephemerides
should be based on Newcomb's calculations. A further conference as late as 1950
confirmed Newcomb's constants as the international standard.

Albert Einstein[edit]
Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) explained the anomalous precession of
Mercury's perihelion in his 1916 paper The Foundation of the General Theory of
Relativity. This led astronomers to recognize that Newtonian mechanics did not
provide the highest accuracy. Binary pulsars have been observed, the first in 1974,
whose orbits not only require the use of General Relativity for their explanation,
but whose evolution proves the existence of gravitational radiation, a discovery
that led to the 1993 Nobel Physics Prize.

Examples of problems[edit]

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Celestial motion without additional forces such as thrust of a rocket, is governed
by gravitational acceleration of masses due to other masses. A simplification is
the n-body problem, where the problem assumes some number n of spherically
symmetric masses. In that case, the integration of the accelerations can be well
approximated by relatively simple summations.

Examples:
4-body problem: spaceflight to Mars (for parts of the flight the influence of one
or two bodies is very small, so that there we have a 2- or 3-body problem; see also
the patched conic approximation)
3-body problem:
Quasi-satellite
Spaceflight to, and stay at a Lagrangian point
In the case that n=2 (two-body problem), the situation is much simpler than for
larger n. Various explicit formulas apply, where in the more general case typically
only numerical solutions are possible. It is a useful simplification that is often
approximately valid.

Examples:
A binary star, e.g., Alpha Centauri (approx. the same mass)
A binary asteroid, e.g., 90 Antiope (approx. the same mass)
A further simplification is based on the "standard assumptions in astrodynamics",
which include that one body, the orbiting body, is much smaller than the other, the
central body. This is also often approximately valid.

Examples:
Solar system orbiting the center of the Milky Way
A planet orbiting the Sun
A moon orbiting a planet
A spacecraft orbiting Earth, a moon, or a planet (in the latter cases the
approximation only applies after arrival at that orbit)
Either instead of, or on top of the previous simplification, we may assume circular
orbits, making distance and orbital speeds, and potential and kinetic energies
constant in time. This assumption sacrifices accuracy for simplicity, especially
for high eccentricity orbits which are by definition non-circular.

Examples:
The orbit of the dwarf planet Pluto, ecc. = 0.2488
The orbit of Mercury, ecc. = 0.2056
Hohmann transfer orbit
Gemini 11 flight
Suborbital flights
Perturbation theory[edit]
Perturbation theory comprises mathematical methods that are used to find an
approximate solution to a problem which cannot be solved exactly. (It is closely
related to methods used in numerical analysis, which are ancient.) The earliest use
of perturbation theory was to deal with the otherwise unsolveable mathematical
problems of celestial mechanics: Newton's solution for the orbit of the Moon, which
moves noticeably differently from a simple Keplerian ellipse because of the
competing gravitation of the Earth and the Sun.

Perturbation methods start with a simplified form of the original problem, which is
carefully chosen to be exactly solvable. In celestial mechanics, this is usually a
Keplerian ellipse, which is correct when there are only two gravitating bodies
(say, the Earth and the Moon), or a circular orbit, which is only correct in
special cases of two-body motion, but is often close enough for practical use. The
solved, but simplified problem is then "perturbed" to make its starting conditions
closer to the real problem, such as including the gravitational attraction of a
third body (the Sun). The slight changes that results in, which themselves may have
been simplified yet again, are used as corrections. Because of simplifications
introduced along every step of the way, the corrections are never perfect, but even
one cycle of corrections often provides a remarkably better approximate solution to
the real problem.

There is no requirement to stop at only one cycle of corrections. A partially

corrected solution can be re-used as the new starting point for yet another cycle
of perturbations and corrections. The common difficulty with the method is that
usually the corrections progressively make the new solutions very much more
complicated, so each cycle is much more difficult to manage than the previous cycle
of corrections. Newton is reported to have said, regarding the problem of the
Moon's orbit "It causeth my head to ache."[1]

This general procedure starting with a simplified problem and gradually adding
corrections that make the starting point of the corrected problem closer to the
real situation is a widely used mathematical tool in advanced sciences and
engineering. It is the natural extension of the "guess, check, and fix" method used
anciently with numbers.

See also[edit]
Astronomy portal
Astrometry is a part of astronomy that deals with measuring the positions of stars
and other celestial bodies, their distances and movements.
Astrodynamics is the study and creation of orbits, especially those of artificial
satellites.
Celestial navigation is a position fixing technique that was the first system
devised to help sailors locate themselves on a featureless ocean.
Dynamics of the celestial spheres concerns pre-Newtonian explanations of the causes
of the motions of the stars and planets.
Gravitation
Numerical analysis is a branch of mathematics, pioneered by celestial mechanicians,
for calculating approximate numerical answers (such as the position of a planet in
the sky) which are too difficult to solve down to a general, exact formula.
Creating a numerical model of the solar system was the original goal of celestial
mechanics, and has only been imperfectly achieved. It continues to motivate
research.
An orbit is the path that an object makes, around another object, whilst under the
influence of a source of centripetal force, such as gravity.
Orbital elements are the parameters needed to specify a Newtonian two-body orbit
uniquely.
Osculating orbit is the temporary Keplerian orbit about a central body that an
object would continue on, if other perturbations were not present.
Retrograde motion
Satellite is an object that orbits another object (known as its primary). The term
is often used to describe an artificial satellite (as opposed to natural
satellites, or moons). The common noun moon (not capitalized) is used to mean any
natural satellite of the other planets.
Tidal force
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory Developmental Ephemeris (JPL DE) is a widely used
model of the solar system, which combines celestial mechanics with numerical
analysis and astronomical and spacecraft data.
Two solutions, called VSOP82 and VSOP87 are versions one mathematical theory for
the orbits and positions of the major planets, which seeks to provide accurate
positions over an extended period of time.
Lunar theory attempts to account for the motions of the Moon.
Notes[edit]
Jump up ^ Cropper, William H. (2004), Great Physicists: The Life and Times of
Leading Physicists from Galileo to Hawking, Oxford University Press, p. 34, ISBN
978-0-19-517324-6.
References[edit]
Forest R. Moulton, Introduction to Celestial Mechanics, 1984, Dover, ISBN 0-486-
64687-4
John E.Prussing, Bruce A.Conway, Orbital Mechanics, 1993, Oxford Univ.Press
William M. Smart, Celestial Mechanics, 1961, John Wiley.
Doggett, LeRoy E. (1997), "Celestial Mechanics", in Lankford, John, History of
Astronomy: An Encyclopedia, New York: Taylor & Francis, pp. 131140, ISBN
9780815303220
J. M. A. Danby, Fundamentals of Celestial Mechanics, 1992, Willmann-Bell
Alessandra Celletti, Ettore Perozzi, Celestial Mechanics: The Waltz of the Planets,
2007, Springer-Praxis, ISBN 0-387-30777-X.
Michael Efroimsky. 2005. Gauge Freedom in Orbital Mechanics. Annals of the New York
Academy of Sciences, Vol. 1065, pp. 346-374
Alessandra Celletti, Stability and Chaos in Celestial Mechanics. Springer-Praxis
2010, XVI, 264 p., Hardcover ISBN 978-3-540-85145-5
Further reading[edit]
Encyclopedia:Celestial mechanics Scholarpedia Expert articles
External links[edit]
Calvert, James B. (2003-03-28), Celestial Mechanics, University of Denver,
retrieved 2006-08-21
Astronomy of the Earth's Motion in Space, high-school level educational web site by
David P. Stern
Newtonian Dynamics Undergraduate level course by Richard Fitzpatrick. This includes
Langrangian and Hamiltonian Dynamics and applications to celestial mechanics,
gravitational potential theory, the 3-body problem and Lunar motion (an example of
the 3-body problem with the Sun, Moon, and the Earth).
Research

Marshall Hampton's research page: Central configurations in the n-body problem

Artwork

Celestial Mechanics is a Planetarium Artwork created by D. S. Hessels and G. Dunne

Course notes

Professor Tatum's course notes at the University of Victoria

Associations

Italian Celestial Mechanics and Astrodynamics Association

Simulations

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