The Dynamical Behaviour of our Planetary System

Book excerpt: It is now a well established tradition that every four years, at the end of winter, a group of "celestial mechanicians" from all over the world gather at the "Alpen gasthof Peter Rosegger" in the Styrian Alps (Ramsau, Austria). This time the colloquium was held from March 17 to March 23, 1996 and was devoted to the Dynamical Behaviour of our Planetary System. The papers covered a large range of questions of current interest: theoretical questions (re- nances, universal properties, non integrability, transport, ... ) and questions about numerical tools ( symplectic maps, indicators of chaos, ... ) were particularly well represented; the never ending problem of the sculpting of the asteroid belt was also qui te popular. You will find in the following pages a pot-pourri of what we listen to; you will miss of course the diversity of accents with which the tunes were delivered: from China, from Japan, from Brazil, from the United-States of America and from all over Europe, East and West. Let us not forget that the comet 199682 (Hyakutake) came to visit us; many an evening was spent on the deck of the Alpengasthof contemplating this celestial visitor who liked to play hide-and-seek behind the spruce trees.