Customer Reviews

Adventures in Celestial Mechanics: A First Course in the Theory of Orbits

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I found this text one Saturday afternoon while shopping at a university bookstore in Denver. I am a candidate for the M.S. degree in astronomyand physics and doing my thesis on Johannes Kepler and his three laws of planetary motion. While browsing through the physics section, I saw this text right in front of me. I spent the next half-hour thumbing through the pages. I purchased it, and I'm using it for part of my thesis. I also am part-time faculty at a unversity in the Denver area. I have shared this wonderful text with students and other faculty members. There are full explanations of orbits, detailed drawings, equations, and sample problems. Orbits include those of planets, moons, man-made satellites, asteroids and comets. I find it an enjoyable book for all that are interested in astronmony from the junior high student through a professional in the field.

The book provides quite a well rounded basis, with good diagrams, but some of his calculation methods are a little hard to follow. I much much preferred Orbital Motion by A.E. Roy. It depends though on how you are used to seeing the formulas. I know some people find this book much easier.