  Relational mechanics is a gauge theory of classical mechanics whose laws do
not govern the motion of individual particles but the evolution of the
distances between particles. Its formulation gives a satisfactory answer to
Leibniz's and Mach's criticisms of Newton's mechanics: relational mechanics
does not rely on the idea of an absolute space. When describing the behavior of
small subsystems with respect to the so called "fixed stars", relational
mechanics basically agrees with Newtonian mechanics. However, those subsystems
having huge angular momenta will deviate from the Newtonian behavior if they
are described in the frame of fixed stars. Such subsystems naturally belong to
the field of astronomy; they can be used to test the relational theory.
