Аннотация:The article is based on the plenary report at the VAK 2021. It describes the development of ideas and reviews somerecent achievements in modern celestial mechanics. We proceed from the fact that the classical definition of this sciencegiven in textbooks and encyclopedias does not fully reflect the content of modern celestial mechanics. A broader and morecapacious term is “dynamic astronomy”. This science is complex and includes not only classical but also relativistic celestialmechanics, as well as the theory of equilibrium figures and computer simulations; besides, we should not forget aboutqualitative methods, the peak of which is the creation of KAM theory. Here we trace the development of a chain of ideasfrom Keplerian orbits to osculating Lagrange ellipses, which leads eventually to Gaussian rings and two models (R-disk andR-toroid) based on precessing Gaussian rings. The review also includes a presentation of results obtained in recent years byresearch groups in the Russian Federation.