We derive the classical Delaunay variables by finding a suitable
symmetry action of the three torus
3 on the phase space of the
Kepler problem, computing its associated momentum map and using the
geometry associated with this structure. A central feature in this
derivation is the identification of the mean anomaly as the angle
variable for a symplectic
S1 action on the union of the non-degenerate
elliptic Kepler orbits. This approach is geometrically more natural than
traditional ones such as directly solving Hamilton-Jacobi equations,
or employing the Lagrange bracket. As an application of the new derivation,
we give a singularity free treatment of the averaged
J2-dynamics (the
effect of the bulge of the Earth) in the Cartesian coordinates by making
use of the fact that the averaged
J2-Hamiltonian is a collective Hamiltonian
of the
3 momentum map. We also use this geometric structure to identify
the drifts in satellite orbits due to the
J2 effect as geometric phases.