I'm playing around with another idea that probably has been thought of
before, so I thought I'd do a bit of pre-math research...
The "simple" problem: Can we prove that there are other planets in our
solar system using the Doppler Shift of the sun as seen from earth?
The probably-not-simple approach: Work out a 3-to-9 body CoM problem, with
the twitch of a rotating frame of reference so the CoM of the system is
stably viewed. The sun should appear to "wobble" a bit about that point due
to the gravitational influences of the planets, and if we take the head-on
wobbling portion, that should give us doppler-shifted lines (admittedly of
very small order) that we could observe to confirm the existence of planets.
Am I missing something here? Has this already been done? Is there a
problem with the approach? Or do I just have too much time on my hands?
---------------
Gordon P. Smith
Visiting Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy
Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden-Sydney, VA 23943
(804) 223-6177