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Chaotic N-body behavior appears when the bodies have similar mass. In that scenario, every solution is either chaotic or unstable. The solar system is strictl
by marginalia_nu 3y ago
Chaotic 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.