Theoretical Astronomy

Daniel Alejandro Perez Navarro

January 22, 2014

Abstract

3. compute the systems total kinetic and potential energy T and V in terms of qi and qi .

The equations of motion that describe the behaviour of a two-body system under a gravitational
field will be developed using the methodology studied in class. Afterwards, the generalisation will be
applied to both the Earth-Moon and the Earth-Sun
systems. Equations will be numbered when they
explicitly match the methodology learned in class.

4. derive T and V for each qi , qi

5. to get the generalised forces, derive the total
virtual work We of all external forces with
respect to each qi to give
Qi =

We
qi

Lagranges Equations
The following sections correspond to the application of Lagranges Equation (LE), using the
methodology proposed by the professor, to both
the Earth-Moon and the Earth-Sun systems, with
reasonable simplifications.

The core equation of the present course on analytical mechanics was deduced using the so called
Jourdains Principle. The equation was presented just stating
Using the concepts of virtual work and
power together with dAlemberts and
Hamiltons principles, the following equation can be derived


d T
T
V

+
= Qi
dt qi
qi
qi

The Problem Statement

The proposed problem is to analyse the motion that

results from the mutual interaction of two bodies
under the influence of (only) their respective gravitational fields. This problem is not new, it has been
generically called the two-body problem (TBP) [2],
and also exists in many branches of physics besides
astrophysics. However, the equations of motion of
the TBP are not usually derived using classical mechanics as I will attempt here.

where
T : system total kinetic energy
V : system total potential energy
Qi : ith generalised force corresponding to the generalised coordinate qi
qi ,qi : displacement and velocity of
the ith generalised coordinate of an
n-degrees of freedom system[1].

3
3.1

Method:

Preliminary Assumptions
Astronomical Reference Frames

In order to observe astronomical objects the

equatorial coordinates system is often used by
1. define generalised coordinates qi
astronomers[3, 4], however for the present project
2. derive generalised displacements and velocities simplifications will be in order. Mainly, because
the equatorial coordinates (though useful to aim
qi , qi
1

our telescopes at the cosmos) give rise to complications beyond the scope of this class.

4.1

With this in mind the analysis could be made

considering the origin set at the more massive celestial object, of the respective TBP. For the sake
of completeness we will define the following sets of
cartesian coordinates, which are not generalised coordinates,

Generalised Coordinates
Degrees of Freedom and a Special Corollary

First, I have to assume that were are looking at the

TBP from a distance so far away that the bodies
appear to move just within a plane. I will call it
orbital plane (OP). Then by citing the equation
seen in class, it can be recognized that each particle
will have two degrees of freedom within the orbital
plane, adding up to 4 in the system. The explicit
calculation is as follows

E = {e0 , e1 , e2 , e3 }
M = {m0 , m
1, m
2, m
3}
S = {s0 , s1 , s2 , s3 }

f = 2p q
= 2(2) 0

where E, M and S reefer to the Earth, Moon or

Sun respectively, the subscript can be used to
denote the element of the set being referenced to,
the zero-th element is the origin, and the rest represent unit vectors. These are useful place-holders
and examples. But, in order to proceed with the
analysis, I will replace these sets with only one (set)
of generalised coordinates.

3.2

=4
where f stands for degrees of freedom, p for the
number of particles, and q for the number of constraints. And, the coefficient of p assumes that
the particles are moving only within the OP. Since,
within a plane a point-particle can only move in
two orthogonal directions.
This is only true assuming that astronomical objects are not subject to constraints. Although, it is
known[2] that special relativity (SR) imposes a constraint in the magnitude of the four-vectors since
their scalar products are invariant (independent of
coordinate system) and usually written as

The Point Mass Approximation

Another important simplification comes from the

fact that I am ignoring the internal structure that
X0
each body may posses. One way to look at the
a b = at bt ax bx ay by az bz

problem could be to model them as solid spheres,

which can be formally stated by assigning the folwhere the summation is assumed to be subject to a
lowing moment of inertia tensor
Minkowski space (it is called Minkowsky metric and
written in tensor notation as g ). The invariance

1 0 0
within our OP would reduce to
2
2
= m r2 0 1 0 = = m r2 ij
X0
5
5
a b = at bt ax bx ay by
g a b =
0 0 1

which would modify the defrees of freedom analysis

as follows,

where the subscript can be addequately substituted by E, M , or S to denote the Earth (E ),

Moon (M ) or the Sun (S ) basis respectively, and
ij is the so called Kronecker-Delta for which i and
j represent the arbitrary directions to describe the
rectangular orientation of the sphere. Nevertheless,
even this approximation will be ignored and I am
going to proceed using only a point-mass approximation.

f =3p q
=3(2) 1
=5
because each particle could move through two
space-like coordinates and one time-like coordinate
2

(hence the coefficient of p) and the constraint is the

aforementioned invariant.
Even though, for the astronomical objects, the
speeds can be close enough to that of light that
relativistic approaches may be needed to construct
useful models, I will ignore SR and proceed as if
the particles where subject only to Newtonian[5]
physics.

4.2

center of mass is being taken for granted. Whereas,

in order for the coordinates to be useful (generalised), the position of the center of mass should
be explicitly described. And to do this, dm and dM
will replace dT . Finally, the generalised coordinates
are

Applying the Orbital Plane Conjecture

Recalling the scenario with the more massive star

held as fixed reference frame. I could propose to
describe the motion of the smaller one with respect
to the more massive. This implies that the problem reduces to two degrees of freedom. Afterwards,
I could do the same for the less massive object, and
both analysis shall be coupled (maybe by recognizing the center of mass of the system as a third reference point). Naively one could think that, it appear
as if the motion of the objects are independent but,
the gravitational potentials will ultimately couple
them.
The problem with this approach is that it does
not provide a suggestion for a generalised coordinate system, and it also obscures the use of LE.
This may be the general approach found in some
textbooks to the TBP[2], but it misses the core of
this class. Therefore, it will be left behind.
Rather, I propose a theoretical initial angle and
the distance between both objects as coordinates,
in the fashion depicted in the figure.

q1 =

(1a)

q2 = dm

(1b)

q3 = dM

(1c)

Generalised Displacements
and Velocities

Here is where the choose of a CM-centred coordinate system will be applied. In addition, our OP
will be assumed such that the astronomical particles would rotate around the CM in a counterclockwise direction. Labelling the axis from which
is measured as x and its orthogonal counterpart
as y (the origin at CM), introduces the following
virtual displacements
xm = dm cos

(2a)

xM = dM cos

(2b)

ym = dm sin

(2c)

yM = dM sin

(2d)

Recognizing that dm , dM , and are all functions

of time virtual velocities are calculated using the
product rule
x m = dm cos + dm sin
x M = dM cos dm sin

(2e)

= dm sin + dm cos
= dM sin dM cos

(2g)

y m
y M

6
qi = {, dT }

(2f)
(2h)

Kinetic and Potential Energy

Where dT denotes the total distance between the 6.1 Gravitational Field
objects, and CM the center of mass of the system.
The simplification is obvious, because only two Before applying the methodology I will describe the
parameters are used to describe a 4-degrees-of- gravitational field to a certain level of depth, that
freedom system. However, the pivot point at the may be useful to continue. The fundamental law
3

of gravitation developed by Newton[5] is usually

written as
mi mj
Fij = G 2
r

where m represents the mass of the whole system,

not the mass of the smallest particle. Now, substituting into the definition the present example of
generalised coordinates and velocities yields

where, G(= 6.67384 1011 m3 kg1 s2 )[7] is the

1
1
2
2
gravitational constant, mi and mj are the masses
+ M vM
(3a)
T = mvm
2
2
interacting, r is the distance between them and Fij
is the force acting on mi by mj .
where vm and vM are euclidean vectors, whose metIn order to simplify further calculations the conric (magnitude) is
cept of a field will be introduced, by analogy with
p
electromagnetism[2], in the following manner
2
(3b)
vm = x 2m + y m
q
Fij mi C
2
(3c)
vM = x 2M + y M
where C denotes the gravitational field to which mi
is subject to. This yields to the following generic
equation describing the gravitational potential for
mi as
mj
Fij
=G 2
Ci =
mi
r

This reduces the problem to marely calculate the

products x 2i and y i2 for each mass i, and adding
them for each respective mass. Which result in the
following algebra[8] steps:
1. Virtual displacements and velocities squared

Now, the definition of potential, assuming potential

equal to zero at infinite distance r, and adequate
vectorial substitutions will be applied to yield
Z
= C ds
Z

2

x 2m = dm cos + dm sin

r0

mj
=
G 2 dr
r

Z r0
dr
= mj G
2
r

r0
1
= mj G
r
mj
=G
r
where the potential energy can be obtained from
the definitions

(3d)

x 2M

= d2m cos2 2dm dm cos sin + d2m 2 sin2

(3e)

2
= dM cos dm sin
(3f)

2
y m

= d2M cos2 2dM dM cos sin + d2M 2 sin2

(3g)

2
= dm sin + dm cos
(3h)

2
y M

= d2m sin2 + 2dm dm cos sin + d2m 2 cos2

(3i)

2
= dM sin dM cos
(3j)
= d2M sin2 + 2dM dM cos sin + d2M 2 cos2
(3k)

F = mi C
2. Addition of the Aforementioned Quantities applying Trigonometric Simplifications

V = mi

6.2

Kinetic Energy and the Unexpected Annihilation

2
x 2m + y m
= d2m + d2m 2
x 2 + y 2 = d2 + d2 2
M

(3l)
(3m)

The classical definition of kinetic energy for pointmass particles is

Specifically, the coefficients of d2i were simplified by
cos2 +sin2 = 1, and the cross products cancelled
1
T = mv 2
each other out.
2
4

Therefore, the kinetic energy of the system can 6.4 The Elegant Excitation
be horribly expressed as
The notation involving in the present section is
 1 

1  2
known as Einsteins Summation notation and it imT = m dm + d2m 2 + M d2M + d2M 2
plies what is usually written as
2
2
(3n)
X
x
x
Which, in turn, can be elegantly simplified as



1
T = m d2 + d2 2
(3o) whereas, for the present problem, instead of x I
2
have used d.
where the subscript is taking advantage of the
symmetry with respect to mass of the right-hand
The Partial Conundrum
side of the equation to denote the sum of both m 7
and M at the same time. It is also important to
The next relevant step to apply LE is partial differnote that the redundant cases of mm and MM will
entiation, but, before continuing, I propose the use
be directly substituted as m and M .
of a particular notation for partial derivatives[9]

6.3

i
= xi
ix

Potential Energy

Recalling the final result of the subsection 6.1, the

respective potentials for each mass are antisymmetric with respect to m
M
r
m
=G
r

m = G

(3p)

(3q)

This simplifies the calculations for the generic T

as follows
d T = m d 2
T = m d
d

T = 0
T =

In addition, it can be seen in the figure of the subsection 4.2 that

(4b)
(4c)

m d2

(4d)

But in order to avoid ambiguity, I could also write

equations 4a and 4b in the horrible... I mean, in
the explicit form

r = dm + dM
for both particles. Which yields the explicit (and
rather ugly) form for the potential energy of the
system as

dm T = mdm 2
T = mdm
dm

V = mm + M M
1
= 2mM G
r
2mM G
=
dm + dM

(4a)

(3r)

dM T = M dM
T = M dM

(3s)

dM

(4e)
(4f)
(4g)
(4h)

(3t) But it is in the opinion of the author that the substitution is just superfluous, at least before numerical
simulations are applied. In other words, the massIn order to re-write this result in a compact fashion,
symmetry of the problem should not be a surprise,
I will work with the inverse of the potential energy
because the assumed motion of the particles was

1
itself mass-symmetric.
d
V =
(3u)
Now lets proceed with the potential energy,
2mM G
where
= 2mM Gd1
(3v)

d V = 2mM Gd2
(4i)

where we can clearly see how the inverse nature of

V = 0
(4j)
the field generalises to the system at hand.
5

The most astounding fact, at least for the author, constant



is that the angle only functioned as a tool to
m d + 2d d + d2 d 2 = 2mM Gd2
develop the total kinetic energy. However, it simply

vanished from every derivative.

(5b)


The next derivatives will be applied with respect
+ 2d d + d2 d 2 d2 = 2mM G
m
d

to time
(5c)

d 

T = m d
(4k)
Since, M > m the CM will be closer to M , therefore
dt d




I will assume that dM is negligible compared to dm .
d
T = m 2d d + d2
(4l) This means that the factor of d2 will vanish, and
dt
M
the equation will be reduced to


dm + 2dm dm + d2m dm 2 d2m = 2M G (5d)
8 Generalised Forces and Ap-

plication of LE

Further simplifications will require specific numerical assumptions. The astronomical unit (AU) is
8.1 Generalised Forces
defined as 149 597 870 700 meters[11], and is understood as the average Earth-Sun distance. For
Since all the relevant interactions for the TBP have convenience let = 2[12]. From this, the solar
been already considered, no generalised forces will mass is defined as
be present in the analysis. However, it is impor 2 (1AU)2
tant to note that some people have seen that dis 1.98855 1030 kg
mS =
tant galaxies are not stable with the amount of
G (1year)2
gravity encountered so far. Therefore, they have
The mass of Earth is 5.9722 1024 kg[13]. The
proposed the theoretical dark matter as a possible explanation[10]. This is, of course, beyond the mass of the moon is 3.3477 1022 kg[14], and its
scope of the present class, since it uses general rel- average distance to Earth is 3.844 105 km =
2.570 103 AU.
ativity not classical mechanics.
With this information we can calculate the positions of the CM for both the Earth-Sun and the
Moon-Earth systems
8.2 The Equation of Motion
1. Earth-Sun CM measured from the Sun

Finally, substituting the partial derivatives into LE

we get a peculiar mixture of notations

RCM =

m i xi
mE 1AU
=
= 449.285km
m+M
mE + mS



m d + m 2d d + d2 m d 2 2mM Gd2
=0
since RCM is six orders of magnitude below
(5a)
the AU, dM can be neglected for this problem.
2. Moon-Earth CM measured from Earth

where, again, the subscript exploits the masssymmetry of terms that would otherwise exist
twice. Since these equations are non-linear this is
where numerical aid will be in order.

8.3

RCM =

mmoon dEM
mi xi
=
= 4599.6542km
m+M
mE + mmoon

since RCM is two orders of magnitude below

the AU, dM can be neglected for this problem.

Mathematical Physics

More simplifications can be applied if the mean

First, symbolic manipulation will be used to re- orbital velocities[15, 16] and mean distances are

write the equation keeping the right-hand side as a used and we assume a constant .
6

References

1. Sun-Earth angular velocity

v
rad
=
= 1.99 107
0
dE
sec

[1] Simon Wiederman, Jourdains Principle,

Multybody Dynamics class discussion, May
28, 2013, Munich University of Applied Sciences, Munich, Germany

2. Earth-Moon angular velocity

=

v
dmoon

= 2.70635 106

[2] Richard P. Feynman, Feynman Lectures on

Physics Volume 1: Mainly Mechanics, Radiation and Heat Basic Books, New York, 1963.

rad
0
sec

Therefore, the equation can be written as

dm d2m = 2M G

[3] Dimitri Mihalas and James Binney, Galactic

Astronomy. Structure and Kinematics. Second edition 1981, W.H. Freeman, San Francisco. ISBN 0-7167-1280-6.

(5e)

And it can be shown to be dimensionally consistent

[4] F. Schmeidler, Fundamentals of Spherical Astronomy. Ch. 2 in Compendium of Practical

Astronomy, by G.D. Roth (ed.), revised translation of Handbuch f
ur Sternfreunde, 4th edition, p. 9-35, 1994, Spinger Verlag, ISBN 0387-53596-9

m
m3
m2 = kg
2
s
kg s2
However it is still non-linear. By means of the
software Mathematica plots were tried to be developed. Proposing as initial conditions the mean
values aforementioned, but the implementation of
the software was most likely done wrong because
the plots where always empty.

[5] Isaac Newton, PhilosophiNaturalis Principia Mathematica 1686.

[6] Carl Bender,
Mathematical Physics
Perimeter
Scholars
International,
http://www.perimeterscholars.org/328.html,
accessed June 24, 2013
[7] NIST Standard Reference Database 121,
http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Constants/, last
update November 2012, accessed July 2nd,
2013
[8] Anna
Kostouki,
Algebra,
Perimeter
Scholars
International,
http://www.perimeterscholars.org/421.html,
accessed July 3, 2013
[9] Jared Speck,
Introduction to Partial
Differential
Equations,
Massachusetts
Institue
of
Technology,
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mathematics/18152-introduction-to-partial-differentialequations-fall-2011/index.htm,
accessed
July 4, 2013
[10] Lars Bergstrom, Torsten Bringmann, Ilias Cholis,Dan Hooper, and Christoph
Weniger, New limits on dark matter annihilation from AMS cosmic ray positron
7

data,
Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer,
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1306.3983v1.pdf,
accessed July 4, 2013
[11] Astronomical
Unit,
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/glossary/au.html
accessed July 4, 2013
[12] Michael Hartl, The Tau Manifesto,
http://tauday.com/tau-manifesto,
accessed
July 4, 2013
[13] Earth
Display
Facts,
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Earth&
Display=Facts accessed July 4, 2013
[14] Earths
Moon
Facts
and
Figures,
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Moon&
Display=Facts& System=Metric, accessed
July 4, 2013
[15] Earth
Fact
Sheet,
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/earthfact.html,
accessed July 4, 2013
[16] Moon
Fact
Sheet,
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/moonfact.html,
accessed July 4, 2013