Perihelion Precession in the Solar System

In this thesis, we study about perihelion precession in the solar system, one of the most interesting aspects of astrophysics that include both aspects of General Relativity and classical mechanics. The phenomenon, by which perihelion of elliptical orbital path of a planet appears to rotate around a central body (which our central body is the Sun) is known as the precession of the orbital path. The special situation of Mercury arises as it is the smallest and the closest to the Sun amongst eight planets in the solar system and since the precession of Mercury's orbital path is much greater than other planets so it has attracted much attention in comparison to others. This natural phenomenon was realized by astronomers many years ago where they could not explain many strange observatory data. This thesis deals with the derivation of the equation of motion and the corresponding approximate solution leading to the perihelion advance formula. Therefore, our preliminary aim is to find solutions for equations of motion and derive a general formula by considering the General Relativity concepts and Classical Mechanics. Keywords: Perihelion, Advance of Perihelion, Aphelion, Perihelion precession