Classical Astronomy

Abstract

Following the historical overview of classical astronomy from ancient times up through the founding of the heliocentric worldview and the discovery of the basic principles of celestial mechanics, we begin in Sect. 2.1 our treatment of astronomy with a description of the motions of the Sun, the Earth, and the Moon in terms of the coordinates on the celestial sphere and of astronomical determinations of time. In Sect. 2.2, we then give a summary of the motions of the other planets, the comets etc. and of the determination of distances within the Solar System. After a brief treatment of the basic principles of mechanics and gravitational theory (Sect. 2.3), we give some applications to celestial mechanics in Sect. 2.4. Finally, in Sect. 2.5, we treat the orbits of artificial satellites and space probes and summarize the most important space research missions within our Solar System.