NavList:

   

Reply

Dear George,
I think this statement needs some comments/corrections.

On Thu, 2 Dec 2004, George Huxtable wrote:

> Not everything in astronomy is deterministic. Even in a system, such as the
> solar system, in which more than two bodies have a mutual gravitational
> interaction, there's a limit to the long-term predictability of it all.
> This is the famous "three-body problem".

This is not a problem for modern astronomy.
If we are talking of "predictions" (forward or backward)
for the period of few thousand years, this will cause no problems
(in principle). As I understand you were talking of Tycho Brahe
observations.

The algorithm of such calculations is contained in the book
of Meeus "Astronomical Algorithms". I doubt that these calculations
can be easily done by hand, but they can be done with a computer
and I suppose that Frank Reed's program can do this.

The "long term" prediction is indeed impossible, (because the
many-body problem of celestial mechanics has no simple solution)
but "long term" in this sentence refers to billions years.
For all "practical purposes" such prediction can be done.

Alex.

   

Reply