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arXiv · 2109.12612

On the stability of satellites at unstable libration points of sun-planet-moon systems

Johannes Reiff·Jonas C. J. Zatsch·Jörg Main·Rigoberto Hernandez
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Abstract

The five libration points of a sun-planet system are stable or unstable fixed positions at which satellites or asteroids can remain fixed relative to the two orbiting bodies. A moon orbiting around the planet causes a time-dependent perturbation on the system. Here, we address the sense in which invariant structure remains. We employ a transition state theory developed previously for periodically driven systems with a rank-1 saddle in the context of chemical reactions. We find that a satellite can be parked on a so-called time-periodic transition state trajectory -- which is an orbit restricted to the vicinity of the libration point L2 for infinitely long time -- and investigate the stability properties of that orbit.

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astro-ph.EPcond-mat.stat-mechmath.DSphysics.chem-ph

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Johannes Reiff, Jonas C. J. Zatsch, Jörg Main, Rigoberto Hernandez. 2021-09-26. On the stability of satellites at unstable libration points of sun-planet-moon systems. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cnsns.2021.106053

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