Tue. Aug. 29 | Introduction to Celestial Mechanics | |
Thu. Aug. 31 | Spherical Trigonometry | Read Chap. 1,2 |
Tue. Sep. 5 | Review of Vector Mechanics | Read Chap. 3 |
Thu. Sep. 7 | Central Force Motion: Energy and Angular Momentum | HW 1 due; Read Chap. 4 |
Tue. Sep. 12 | Central Force Motion: Stability of Circular Orbits | |
Thu. Sep. 14 | Central Force Motion: Gravity |
HW 2 due; Read Chap. 6 and Appendix A (you can skip 6.9-6.13) |
Tue. Sep. 19 | Central Force Motion: General Relativity | |
Thu. Sep. 21 | The Two-Body Problem: Orbital Elements | HW 3 due |
Tue. Sep. 26 | The Three Dimensional Orbit | |
Thu. Sep. 28 | The Orbit in Time | HW 4 due |
Tue. Oct. 3 | Additional Problems in 2-Body Motion | |
Thu. Oct. 5 | The 3-Body Problem: Jacobi's Integral, Tisserand's Criterion | HW 5 due; Skim Chap. 9; Read Chap. 8 |
Tue. Oct. 10 | The 3-Body Problem: Zero Velocity Curves, Capture and Escape | |
Thu. Oct. 12 | The 3-Body Problem: Lagrangian Points, Horseshoe and Tadpole Orbits | HW 6 due |
Tue. Oct. 17 | Short Class Today |
Classtime made up with 5 min. extensions to regular classes |
Thu. Oct. 19 | MIDTERM | |
Tue. Oct. 24 | Rotating and Inertial Reference Frames | |
Thu. Oct. 26 | The Lagrange Equilibrium Points: Existence and Stability | HW 7 due |
Tue. Oct. 31 | Additional Problems in 3-Body Motion | |
Thu. Nov. 2 | The Perturbation Equations of Celestial Mechanics | HW 8 due |
Tue. Nov. 7 | The Perturbation Equations of Celestial Mechanics | Further reading will be primarily from Handouts. The material will parallel Danby's Chap. 11. |
Thu. Nov. 9 | Drag Forces; Tidal Evolution | HW 9 due |
Tue. Nov. 14 | Planetary Oblateness | |
Thu. Nov. 16 | Other Perturbations | HW 10 due |
Tue. Nov. 21 | Planet-Planet Interactions: The Disturbing Function | |
Thu. Nov. 23 | THANKSGIVING | |
Tue. Nov. 28 | Planetary Perturbations: Resonances | |
Thu. Nov. 30 | Planetary Perturbations: Secular Effects | HW 11 due |
Tue. Dec. 5 | TBD | |
Thu. Dec. 7 | TBD | HW 12 due |
Mon. Dec. 18 | FINAL EXAM (1:30pm-3:30pm) | |
Last Modified: Tue Aug 29 11:15:05 2017