2
$\begingroup$

While messing around in https://dan-ball.jp/en/javagame/planet/. I came across a pretty stable orbit of 2 bodies around a star

gif

Orbit yellow:

yellow

Orbit Blue:

blue

full album: https://imgur.com/a/ruyenmY

Is this a know orbit type? if so what is the maximum distance between the inner circular orbit and outer circular orbit?

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Saturn's co-orbital moons Janus and Epimetheus exchange angular momentum every 4 years. $\endgroup$ – Mike G Jul 31 '18 at 19:13
  • $\begingroup$ Horseshoe orbits do exist. I think that's what you've got there. They're not very common but they exist. Earth has a horseshoe satellite. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3753_Cruithne with a more eccentric orbit than Earth but similar period that switches back and forth between shorter than a year and longer than a year, moving back and forth in effect relative to Earth. Saturn's two moons, mentioned by @MikeG are much closer to circular and more similar in size. They in effect dance around each other. astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/486/… $\endgroup$ – userLTK Aug 1 '18 at 6:46
  • $\begingroup$ Stability is relative :-) . Terra has been orbiting for, what, 3 billion orbits now? What does your simulation show after maybe a million or 10 cycles? $\endgroup$ – Carl Witthoft Aug 1 '18 at 17:53
  • $\begingroup$ That's a cool simulator GUI! I've been creating moons and watching them collide, weee! Here's some fictional background: Why would Hollywood's Planet X (at earth's L3) be unstable? I don't know how mathematically correct the simulator is, and what the masses of the bodies are, but you may have just put each object in an orbit around the other's Lagrange point L3 $\endgroup$ – uhoh Aug 2 '18 at 4:04

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.