Solar system simulator

Brief description

By considering the planets and the Sun as point masses you can determine the dynamical evolution of the solar system by solving the coupled equations of motion of the bodies on a computer (this is easier that it might appear). These can be compared with the `best estimate' presently available (the JPL Ephemeris). In addition, the effects on the solar system of the arrival of, say, a two solar mass black hole can be computed. Will the solar system be disrupted?

Resources

• JPL astrodynamic constants
• JPL coordinates for sun/planets
• JPL HORIZONS system
• Matlab ode45 function
• Matlab starter files:
  • example.m (a simple 1-body example)
  • rate_of_change.m
  • solsym.m
• relativistic corrections (add this once everything else is working!)
• Numerical computing with Matlab (see ODE chapter)
• Numerical Recipies extracts on integrating ODEs and the Runge Kutta Method (background reading)