03391 - Celestial Mechanics

Learning outcomes

The aim of the course is providing the student with the fundamental tools of celestial mechanics and introducing some important astrophysical applications. At the end of the course the student will be familiar with the main results on the gravitational N-body problem and, in particular, on the three-body problem. The student will also have a basic knowledge of the methods of general perturbations and numerical integration of orbits.

Course contents

Fundamentals of Newtonian mechanics - Newtonian Gravity - Gravitational potential - Axially symmetric mass distribution - Keplerian orbits - Kepler's laws - Kepler's problem - Orbital elements - Orbits in Central Force-Fields - Non-inertial reference frames - Tidal effects - Roche radius - Lagrangian mechanics - the N-body problem - the restricted 3 body problem - Tesserand criterion

Readings/Bibliography

- A.E. Roy "Orbital Motion", Taylor & Francis
- C.D. Murray & S.F. Dermott "Solar system dynamics", Cambridge University Press
- L.D. Landau & E.M. Lifshitz "Mechanics", Butterworth–Heinemann

Notes and articles will be indicated during the lectures

Teaching methods

Lectures

Assessment methods

The assessment method will be based on an oral examination in which the student will be asked to:

- present a topic of his/her choice

- solve a problem similar to those seen in the class

- present a topic discussed during the lectures

The aim of the oral examination is to verify the the knowlegde of both the methods astrophysical application of celestial mechanics.

Teaching tools

Blackboard and projector

Office hours

See the website of Annalisa Bonafede