3 ms·
> with 4 suns the orbit would be chaotic and no periodic pattern would exist to be found This is only true for certain configurations of N-body systems. The so
by marginalia_nu 4y ago
> with 4 suns the orbit would be chaotic and no periodic pattern would exist to be found
This is only true for certain configurations of N-body systems. The solar system is an N-body system with periodic patterns, at least at a human timescale.
- btilly 4y agoThis is true as long as at least 3 of the bodies have comparable masses, or the timescale is long enough. The periodic behavior of the Solar System is because 99.86% of its mass is in the Sun. So every other interaction is a small rounding error. And therefore the Solar System is chaotic but with a long Lyapunov time - estimated at about 5 million years.