Re: ZetaTalk and Spaceguard UK (D8)

In Article <[email protected]> David Tholen wrote:
>> but explains why Planet do NOT perturb closer into the Sun,
>
> But they do perturb "closer into the Sun".  Consider the osculating
> semimajor axis for Pluto as of epoch 2444800.5 = 1981 July 15
>    39.9165 AU
> and as of epoch 2451800.5 = 2000 September 13
>   39.2353 AU
> From DE403.

Then why not STAY closer in to the Sun, after having arrived there?  You
can argue that a planet speeds up in its orbit when approaching another
body, and then slow down due to the drag now behind it, perhaps
canceling each other out so the orbit pace remains overall the same.
But if an object being passed [DE403] is CLOSER IN toward the Sun,
perturbing Pluto to orbit closer to the Sun by their combined gravity
pull, then what is it that pulls Pluto BACK AWAY from the Sun?  DE403's
dead twin, on the outside of Pluto's orbit (just kidding here, I'm not
asserting there is a DE403 dead twin, Dave, so don't go off on a
tangent, please).

In Article <[email protected]> David Tholen wrote:
>> but stay in their orbit paths when passing each other!
>
> No, the planets do NOT "stay in their orbit paths when passing
> each other".  They perturb each other, according to the laws of
> gravity. Go ahead, compare the osculating orbits for Saturn
> before and after Jupiter passes it.  You'll find that they are
> different.
>
>> and why planets do NOT perturb TOWARD the Sun.
>
> But they do.  They also perturb away from the Sun.  It just so
> happens that the two average out to zero close enough for the
> Solar System to be stable for billions of years.

What pulls Saturn OUT away from the Sun and Jupiter, after this
passage?  It's reverence for Newton?  We have a gravity Push-Away Law?
Saturn finds itself floating along in its orbit, now closer to the Sun,
and decides to JUMP AWAY from the Sun to honor Newton?  To keep you'all
feeling comfy and smug?  It's now in the same position as satellites
when their orbits degrade or decay or whatever the proper term is, and
start spiraling down to Earth.  Why would it NOT be?  (The answer is, of
course, the Repulsion Force which is the push-away.)