Full Description
G. Beutler's "Methods of Celestial Mechanics" is a coherent textbook for students as well as an excellent reference for practitioners. The first volume gives a thorough treatment of celestial mechanics and presents all the necessary mathematical details that a professional would need. The reader will appreciate the well-written chapters on numerical solution techniques for ordinary differential equations, as well as that on orbit determination. In the second volume applications to the rotation of earth and moon, to artificial earth satellites and to the planetary system are presented. The author addresses all aspects that are of importance in high-tech applications, such as the detailed gravitational fields of all planets and the earth, the oblateness of the earth, the radiation pressure, and the atmospheric drag. The concluding part of this monumental treatise explains and details state-of-the-art professional and thoroughly-tested software for celestial mechanics. The CD-ROM accompanying Volume II enables readers to employ this software themselves and also serves as to illustrate and reinforce the related theoretical concepts.
Contents
Basic TheoryEquations of Motion.- The Two- and Three-Body Problems.- Variational Equations.- Theory of Perturbations.- Numerical Solution of Ordinary Differential Equations: Principles and Concepts.- Orbit Determination and Parameter Estimation.- References.- Abbreviations and Acronyms.- Index.
