Secular Motion in a 2nd Degree and Order-Gravity Field with no Rotation

The motion of a particle about a non-rotating 2nd degree and order-gravity field is investigated. Averaging conditions are applied to the particle motion and a qualitative analysis which reveals the general character of motion in this system is given. It is shown that the orbit plane will either be stationary or precess about the body's axis of minimum or maximum moment of inertia. It is also shown that the secular equations for this system can be integrated in terms of trigonometric, hyperbolic or elliptic functions. The explicit solutions are derived in all cases of interest.This revised version was published online in October 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.