Article Published In Vol.4 (Nov-Dec-2016)

Perihelion Precession in the Solar System

Author : Sara Kanzi and Hamed Ghasemian

In this paper, we investigate perihelion precession in the solar system, which is one of the most interesting aspects of astrophysics including both aspects of General Relativity and classical mechanics. The phenomenon, where the perihelion of the elliptical orbital path of a planet seems to rotate around a central body (the Sun in this case), is referred to as the precession of the orbital path. Astronomers discovered this natural phenomenon years ago where they failed to explain many strange observatory data. This paper addresses the derivation of the motion equation and the corresponding approximate solution, which results in the perihelion advance formula. We are, therefore, aiming primarily at obtaining solutions to equations of motion and deriving a general formula by taking the General Relativity concepts and Classical Mechanics into account.

Keywords: Perihelion, Solar System, Perihelion Precession, Planet, Euler-Lagrange equations.