Tue. Sep. 3 | Introduction to Celestial Mechanics | |
Thu. Sep. 5 | Timescales & Coordinate Systems | Read Chap. 1,2 |
Tue. Sep. 10 | Spherical Trigonometry | Read Chap. 3 |
Thu. Sep. 12 | Review of Vector Mechanics | |
Tue. Sep. 17 | Central Force Motion: Energy and Angular Momentum | HW 1 due; Read Chap. 4 |
Thu. Sep. 19 | Central Force Motion: Stability of Circular Orbits; Basic Pirate | |
Tue. Sep. 24 | Central Force Motion: Gravity | HW 2 due; Read Chap. 6 (you can skip 6.9-6.13) and Appendix A |
Thu. Sep. 26 | Central Force Motion: General Relativity | |
Tue. Oct. 1 | The Two-Body Problem: Orbital Elements | |
Thu. Oct. 3 | The Three Dimensional Orbit | HW 3 due |
Tue. Oct. 8 | NO CLASS TODAY | |
Thu. Oct. 10 | NO CLASS TODAY | |
Tue. Oct. 15 | The Orbit in Time | HW 4 due |
Thu. Oct. 17 | Additional Problems in 2-Body Motion | |
Tue. Oct. 22 | The N-Body Problem | HW 5 due; Read Chap. 9 |
Thu. Oct. 24 | The 3-Body Problem: Jacobi's Integral, Tisserand's Criterion | Read Chap. 8 |
Tue. Oct. 29 | The 3-Body Problem: Zero Velocity Curves, Capture and Escape | HW 6 due |
Thu. Oct. 31 | The 3-Body Problem: Lagrangian Points, Horseshoe and Tadpole Orbits | |
Tue. Nov. 5 | MIDTERM | |
Thu. Nov. 7 | NO CLASS TODAY | |
Tue. Nov. 12 | The Lagrange Equilibrium Points: Existance and Stability | HW 7 due; Read the Perturbation Handout and Part of Chap. 11 |
Thu. Nov. 14 | Additional Problems in 3-Body Motion | |
Tue. Nov. 19 | The Perturbation Equations of Celestial Mechanics | HW 8 due; Further reading will be primarily from Handouts. The material will parallel Danby's Chap. 11. |
Thu. Nov. 21 | Drag Forces and Tidal Evolution | |
Tue. Nov. 26 | Tidal Evolution and Planetary Oblateness | HW 9 due |
Thu. Nov. 28 | THANKSGIVING BREAK | |
Tue. Dec. 3 | Other Perturbations | HW 10 due |
Thu. Dec. 5 | Planet-Planet Interactions: The Disturbing Function | |
Tue. Dec. 10 | Planetary Perturbations: Resonances | HW 11 due |
Thu. Dec. 12 | Planetary Perturbations: Secular Effects | |
Sat. Dec. 21 | FINAL EXAM (10:30am-12:30pm) | |
Last Modified: Mon Sep 30 12:16:12