ASTR 502 Astronomincal dynamics 3 credit Prereqs: None (permission of instructor for undergrads) Evaluation: Midterm and final exam. Heavy homework problems. Texts: Class notes for Celestial Mechanics. Binney and Tremaine (2nd ed) Galactic Dynamics Unit: CELESTIAL MECHANICS - Overview of solar system structure, coordinate systems (1 lecture) - 2-body problem, orbital elements, astrodynamics, Kepler's Eq. (3 lectures) - hyperbolic orbits and gravity assists (1 lecture) - perturbation equations, osculating elements (1 lecture) - precession in oblate gravity fields, drag (1 lecture) - The N-body problem and dynamical chaos (1 lecture) - Numerical techniques (spread throughout) - The restricted 3-body problem (2 lectures) - Multi-planet dynamics (2 lectures) Unit: GALACTIC/STELLAR DYNAMICS - potentials of spherical and axisysmmetric systems (2 lectures) - Orbits in spherical and axisysmmetric potentials (2 lectures) - The structure and potential of the galaxy (1 lecture) - kinematics in rotating potentials, bars (1 lecture) - N-body scattering (1 lecture) - Dynamics of star clusters (2 lectures) - Boltzmann equation (1 lecture) - Virial Theorem (1 lecture) - Tidal effects, Gravitational friction (1 lecture) Background: Students assumed to know ODEs and PDEs. Assumed undergrad mechanics with Lagragians and brief exposure to Hamiltonian Astronomy background unassumed, but heavy reading on galactic structure if not.o Goal: Get students in all domains of astronomy needed background in general dynamics to be able to understand basics of the literature.