The dynamical evolution of the solar system

The lectures cover orbital evolution, radiation forces, tides, the past solar system, the three body problem, and rotational dynamics in the solar system. A geometric description is given of an orbit, and it is illustrated how an orbit can change under the action of tiny perturbing forces. Attention is also given to some of the processes that cause orbits to evolve. After considering the radiation forces experienced by a perfectly absorbing particle, an elementary mechanical model is developed to compute the force felt by a particle that scatters, transmits, and absorbs light. The lecture on tides explains how tides have synchronized most satellite rotation periods with their orbital periods and have modified appreciably the rotations of the three inner terrestrial planets. Regarding the past solar system, integrations of the orbital evolutions backward in time are considered in order to learn the past form of the solar system. Descriptions are given of the orbital histories of the moon, of hypothetical satellites about Mercury and Venus, of the Martian satellites, and of large moons in the outer solar system.