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Stable against what perturbations? What impact would a large body passing through the system have? Stable as in self-correcting (up to a limit)? What is the lim
by sengstrom 9y ago
Stable against what perturbations? What impact would a large body passing through the system have? Stable as in self-correcting (up to a limit)? What is the limit. Even long running accurate simulations of the three body problem are sensitive to perturbations...
- ssivark 9y ago> This system is completely stable—I double-checked with computer simulations. But nature would have a tough time forming this system. If I understand correctly, I think the author uses "stable" to just mean a _fixed point_. The fixed point must actually be unstable to just about every possible perturbation, which justifies the second statement; if the fixed point were actually "stable" (to perturbations) then it would occur relatively easily in nature.
- petraeus 9y agoI'd imagine each one of the planets would have an artificial gravity generator itself able to correct for gravitational disturbances
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- QuantumGravy 9y agoAssuming artificial gravity generators, who needs planets?