| Tue. Jan. 25 | Introduction to Celestial Mechanics | |
| Thu. Jan. 27 | Spherical Trigonometry | Read Chap. 1,2 |
| Tue. Feb. 1 | Review of Vector Mechanics | Read Chap. 3 |
| Thu. Feb. 3 | Central Force Motion: Energy and Angular Momentum | HW 1 due; Read Chap. 4 |
| Tue. Feb. 8 | Central Force Motion: Stability of Circular Orbits | |
| Thu. Feb. 10 | Central Force Motion: Gravity |
HW 2 due; Read Chap. 6 and Appendix A (you can skip 6.9-6.13) |
| Tue. Feb. 15 | Central Force Motion: General Relativity | |
| Thu. Feb. 17 | The Two-Body Problem: Orbital Elements | HW 3 due |
| Tue. Feb. 22 | The Three Dimensional Orbit | |
| Thu. Feb. 24 | The Orbit in Time | HW 4 due |
| Tue. Mar. 1 | Additional Problems in 2-Body Motion | |
| Thu. Mar. 3 | MIDTERM | |
| Tue. Mar. 8 | The N-Body Problem | Read Chap. 9 |
| Thu. Mar. 10 | The 3-Body Problem: Jacobi's Integral, Tisserand's Criterion | HW 5 due; Read Chap. 8 |
| Tue. Mar. 15 | The 3-Body Problem: Zero Velocity Curves, Capture and Escape | |
| Thu. Mar. 17 | The 3-Body Problem: Lagrangian Points, Horseshoe and Tadpole Orbits | HW 6 due |
| Tue. Mar. 22 | SPRING BREAK | |
| Thu. Mar. 24 | SPRING BREAK | |
| Tue. Mar. 29 | Rotating and Inertial Reference Frames | |
| Thu. Mar. 31 | The Lagrange Equilibrium Points: Existence and Stability | HW 7 due |
| Tue. Apr. 5 | Additional Problems in 3-Body Motion | |
| Thu. Apr. 7 | The Perturbation Equations of Celestial Mechanics | Further reading will be primarily from Handouts. The material will parallel Danby's Chap. 11. HW 8 due |
| Tue. Apr. 12 | NO CLASS TODAY | |
| Thu. Apr. 14 | MIDTERM | |
| Tue. Apr. 19 | Drag Forces; Tidal Evolution | |
| Thu. Apr. 21 | Planetary Oblateness | HW 9 due |
| Tue. Apr. 26 | Other Perturbations | |
| Thu. Apr. 28 | Planet-Planet Interactions: The Disturbing Function | HW 10 due |
| Tue. May 3 | Planetary Perturbations: Resonances | |
| Thu. May 5 | Planetary Perturbations: Secular Effects | HW 11 due |
| Tue. May 10 | TBD | |
| Wed. May 18 | FINAL EXAM (10:30am-12:30pm) | |
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to ASTR450 Home Page Last Modified: Thu Mar 31 12:31:00 2011