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  • $\begingroup$ Not enough points on Physics SE to upvote, but thanks again for the details! That was where I initially went wrong. I had assumed the increases/decreases were additive (which is sort of what it sounds like when described qualitatively). $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 22, 2015 at 4:08
  • $\begingroup$ @BillN Hi, Bill. Could you clarify why the angular momentum remains constant to first order? Assuming the planets are of ideal shape, is the constancy of angular momentum not exact? $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 25, 2015 at 12:40
  • $\begingroup$ There are other planets which exert torques on each other. The torque effects are very small on a planet (large mass), but we use them to boost small mass satellites to different orbits. That's how we got the Voyagers and New Horizons out to Pluto and beyond. $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 25, 2015 at 18:22