A Space & astronomy forum. SpaceBanter.com

Go Back   Home » SpaceBanter.com forum » Astronomy and Astrophysics » Amateur Astronomy
Site Map Home Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

How many degrees in their orbit do the planets travel in one Earth year?



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Prev Previous Post   Next Post Next
  #1  
Old August 9th 15, 10:57 PM posted to sci.astro.amateur
Brian Denzer
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4
Default How many degrees in their orbit do the planets travel in one Earth year?

In the posthumously-published 18th century manuscript, Descriptio Automati Planetarii, Christian Huygens described the motions of the planets in degrees traveled in one Earth year.

So, for example, he said that Earth travels 359° 45' 40" 31''' in one year, but Saturn travels just 12° 13' 34" 18''' in one year.

What is he talking about, how did he arrive at those numbers, and what is the unit used in the last term (thirds?)?

The degrees traveled by other planets are also listed, but the document is in Latin, so it's very difficult to extract those ratios.

I rather like his approach as an exercise in the math of astronomy. I'd like to understand it better.

Descriptio Automati Planetarii:

https://play.google.com/books/reader...n&pg=GBS.PA139

The reference to degrees traveled by Earth and Saturn:

https://play.google.com/books/reader...n&pg=GBS.PA174

Thanks for any assistance that might be offered.

Kind regards,
Brian


 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Malthusian Theory and Travel Beyond Earth Orbit Al Jackson Policy 13 August 16th 03 02:47 AM
Malthusian Theory and Travel Beyond Earth Orbit John Maxson Space Station 1 August 4th 03 02:49 AM
Malthusian Theory and Travel Beyond Earth Orbit John Maxson Policy 0 August 3rd 03 07:39 PM
Malthusian Theory and Travel Beyond Earth Orbit John Maxson Space Station 3 August 3rd 03 03:30 AM
Malthusian Theory and Travel Beyond Earth Orbit John Maxson Policy 3 August 3rd 03 03:30 AM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 10:24 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 SpaceBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.