An alternative derivation of the Lense-Thirring drag on the orbit of a test body

In the weak-field and slow-motion approximation of general relativity a new approach in deriving the secular Lense-Thirring effect on the orbital elements of a test body in the external field of different central rotating sources exhibiting axial symmetry is presented. The approach adopted in the presented. The approach adopted in the present work, in the case of a perfectly spherical source, leads to the well-known Lense-Thirring formulas for all the Keplerian orbital elements of the freely falling particle. The corrections induced in the case of a central nonspherical axisymmetric body are also worked out