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The book is mis-named. Their system was not 3 bodies, but 4 (3 stars, plus a planet). And the system is so chaotic that even that little planet will make a huge
by CWuestefeld 3y ago
The book is mis-named. Their system was not 3 bodies, but 4 (3 stars, plus a planet). And the system is so chaotic that even that little planet will make a huge difference over time. And even beyond that, the bodies themselves were transformed, having the ability to tear atmosphere away from each other.
- marginalia_nu 3y agoChaotic N-body behavior appears when the bodies have similar mass. In that scenario, every solution is either chaotic or unstable. The solar system is strictly speaking a 20+ body system. That said, the behavior of the solar system is fairly predictable because the the sun has almost all of the mass, and jupiter has almost all of what remains, everything else is a small correction term. We can to a good approximation calculate the other satellites' orbits around either the sun or the center of mass of the sun-jupiter system.