“The perturbations which the motions of planets suffer from the influence other planets, are so small and so slow that they only become sensible after a long interval of time; within a shorter time”

— Carl Friedrich Gauss

Theoria motus corporum coelestium... (1809) Tr. Charles Henry Davis as Theory of the Motion of the Heavenly Bodies moving about the Sun in Conic Sections (1857)
Context: The perturbations which the motions of planets suffer from the influence other planets, are so small and so slow that they only become sensible after a long interval of time; within a shorter time, or even within one or several revolutions, according to circumstances, the motion would differ so little from motion exactly described, according to the laws of Kepler, in a perfect ellipse, that observations cannot show the difference. As long as this is true, it not be worth while to undertake prematurely the computation of the perturbations, but it will be sufficient to adapt to the observations what we may call an osculating conic section: but, afterwards, when the planet has been observed for a longer time, the effect of the perturbations will show itself in such a manner, that it will no longer be possible to satisfy exactly all the observations by a purely elliptic motion; then, accordingly, a complete and permanent agreement cannot be obtained, unless the perturbations are properly connected with the elliptic motion.

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Carl Friedrich Gauss 50

German mathematician and physical scientist 1777–1855

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“The perturbations which the motions of planets suffer from the influence other planets, are so small and so slow that they only become sensible after a long interval of time; within a shorter time”

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Carl Friedrich Gauss 50

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