| Thu. Aug. 31 | Introduction to Celestial Mechanics | |
| Tue. Sep. 5 | Spherical Trigonometry | Read Chap. 1,2 |
| Thu. Sep. 7 | Review of Vector Mechanics | Read Chap. 3 |
| Tue. Sep. 12 | Central Force Motion: Energy and Angular Momentum | Read Chap. 4 |
| Thu. Sep. 14 | Central Force Motion: Stability of Circular Orbits | HW 1 due |
| Tue. Sep. 19 | Central Force Motion: Gravity |
Read Chap. 6 and Appendix A (you can skip 6.9-6.13) |
| Thu. Sep. 21 | Central Force Motion: General Relativity | HW 2 due |
| Tue. Sep. 26 | The Two-Body Problem: Orbital Elements | |
| Thu. Sep. 28 | The Three Dimensional Orbit | HW 3 due |
| Tue. Oct. 3 | The Orbit in Time | |
| Thu. Oct. 5 | Additional Problems in 2-Body Motion | HW 4 due |
| Tue. Oct. 10 | NO CLASS TODAY | |
| Thu. Oct. 12 | MIDTERM | |
| Tue. Oct. 17 | The N-Body Problem | Read Chap. 9 |
| Thu. Oct. 19 | The 3-Body Problem: Jacobi's Integral, Tisserand's Criterion | HW 5 due; Read Chap. 8 |
| Tue. Oct. 24 | The 3-Body Problem: Zero Velocity Curves, Capture and Escape | |
| Thu. Oct. 26 | The 3-Body Problem: Lagrangian Points, Horseshoe and Tadpole Orbits | HW 6 due |
| Tue. Oct. 31 | The Lagrange Equilibrium Points: Existence and Stability | |
| Thu. Nov. 2 | MIDTERM | |
| Tue. Nov. 7 | Additional Problems in 3-Body Motion | |
| Thu. Nov. 9 | The Perturbation Equations of Celestial Mechanics | HW 7 due; Further reading will be primarily from Handouts. The material will parallel Danby's Chap. 11. |
| Tue. Nov. 14 | Drag Forces and Tidal Evolution | |
| Thu. Nov. 16 | Tidal Evolution and Planetary Oblateness | HW 8 due |
| Tue. Nov. 21 | Other Perturbations | |
| Thu. Nov. 23 | THANKSGIVING BREAK | |
| Tue. Nov. 28 | Planet-Planet Interactions: The Disturbing Function | |
| Thu. Nov. 30 | Planetary Perturbations: Resonances | HW 9 due |
| Tue. Dec. 5 | Planetary Perturbations: Secular Effects | |
| Thu. Dec. 7 | TBD | HW 10 due |
| Tue. Dec. 12 | TBD | |
| Wed. Dec. 20 | FINAL EXAM (10:30am-12:30pm) | |
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to ASTR450 Home Page Last Modified: Thu Aug 31 11:43:20 2006