Rudolphine Tables and instructive examples for computing planetary positions. For most stars these tables were accurate to within one arc minute, and included corrective factors for atmospheric refraction. The tables were sufficiently accurate to predict a transit of Mercury observed by Pierre Gassendi in 1631 and a transit of Venus observed by Jeremiah Horrox in 1639. Rudolphine Tables The Rudolphine Tables () consist of a star catalogue and planetary tables published by Johannes Kepler in 1627, using some observational data collected by Tycho Brahe (1546–1601). The tables are named as "Rudolphine" in memory of Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor. Star tables had
Stellar dynamics stellar system. Given the large number of objects in a stellar system, stellar dynamics is usually concerned with the more global, statistical properties of several orbits rather than with the specific data on the positions and velocities of individual orbits. The motions of stars in a galaxy or in a globular cluster are principally determined by the average distribution of the other, distant stars. Stellar encounters involve processes such as relaxation, mass segregation, tidal forces, and dynamical friction that influence the trajectories of the system's members. Stellar dynamics also has connections to the field of plasma physics. The two fields