Mathematics Stack Exchange
Mathematics Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [celestial-mechanics]

Use this tag for questions about the branch of astronomy dealing with motions of celestial objects.

Celestial mechanics is the branch of astronomy dealing with motions of celestial objects.

Historically, celestial mechanics uses laws of gravity to give the position of a natural celestial object or satellite in the sky at a given time.

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Normal distance

Recently, I saw a paper "G. H. Darwin, Periodic Orbits" and I don't undertand the concept of "normal displacement $\delta$p". "... Now suppose that x, y are the coordinates of a point on an orbit, and that x + $\delta$ x, y + $\delta$ y are the…
José Psicodélico
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Distance to the celestial horizon

Calculating the distance to the horizon, defined as the point at which a ship will vanish from sight because it's blocked by the curvature of the earth, is fairly simple. But how about something a bit more complicated? A satellite bearing a bright…
user328854
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Maximum possible rate of change of length-of-day?

What is the maximum possible rate of change of length-of-day (in units of minutes per day), on Earth? It is well known (and easy to observe) that it's larger near the equinoxes, and at higher latitudes, but how large can it be? (Perhaps we can use…
Rob Wall
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