Angular Precession of Elliptic Orbits. Mercury

Javier Bootello

doi:10.4236/ijaa.2012.24032

Abstract

The relativistic precession of Mercury -43.1 seconds of arc per century, is the result of a secular addition of 5.02×10-7 rad. at the end of every orbit around the Sun. The question that arises in this paper, is to analyse the angular precession at each single point of the elliptic orbit and determine its magnitude and oscillation around the mean value, comparing key theoretical proposals. Underline also that, this astronomical determination has not been yet achieved, so it is considered that Messenger spacecraft, now orbiting the planet or the future mission BepiColombo, should provide an opportunity to perform it. That event will clarify some significant issues, now that we are close to reach the centenary of the formulation and first success of General Relativity.

Highlights

The trajectory of a target around a massive object (M), is defined starting from the Schwarzschild solution, in a geometry and a space-time with spherical symmetry
The question that arises in this paper, is to analyse the angular precession at each single point of the elliptic orbit and determine its magnitude and oscillation around the mean value, comparing key theoretical proposals
2) Angular precession may oscillate about a mean value

Summary

Introduction

The trajectory of a target around a massive object (M), is defined starting from the Schwarzschild solution, in a geometry and a space-time with spherical symmetry. Angular instantaneous precession in each point of the trajectory -δ( )-, is constant referred to , so that the gradual addition along the orbit, orbital precession -Δ( )-, has a linear accumulation till its final value Δ(2π) (Figure 1). We will analyse the range of the periodic oscillations produced by function j related with the mean value that involves the last term e sin (Figure 4).

Results

Conclusion