The climate last about 1 million years has been largely determined but the change of the eccentricity (elongation) of Earth’s orbit (One of the Milankovitch cycles.
The glacial cycles (daily speaking: ice ages) with a period of about 100 000 years are thought to be due to this.
Theory: The gravity from the other planets, especially Jupiter, causes the change of the eccentricity.
Problem: Reproduce Milankovitch cycle of eccentricity (100ka)
Method: Use Python
Let’s go for functional programming
Input: Some initial positions of the planets but no external data
Perhaps also user input of length of simulation
Output: Graph of orbits and a timeseries of an eccentricity parameter
Development steps (we extend the program with iterations)
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Earth-sun system
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Add Jupiter
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Make modular
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Add more planets?