Astronomy › Section C · Orbits and gravity › Topic C.5
Gravity with more than two bodies
Kepler's laws treat a planet and the Sun as a lonely pair, but every planet tugs on every other. Following those small extra pulls is hard work, yet it led to one of the great triumphs of science: finding a new planet with pencil and paper.
In this topic
- Beyond a lonely pair
- Computing orbits step by step
- Perturbations: small extra pulls
- Worked example: how hard does Jupiter pull on Earth?
- Worked example: the Moon's two masters
- Uranus misbehaves
- Predicting an unseen planet
- The discovery of Neptune
- Special points and families
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Key takeaways
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