Tagged Questions
5
votes
1answer
155 views
How reliant is the Solar System on being exactly the way it is?
We know that all objects with mass exert forces on all other objects of mass such that
$$ F = \frac{GMm}{R^2}.$$
And as others have discussed the planets do interfere with each other ...
8
votes
3answers
322 views
Is it possible that 5 planets can revolve around a single star in a single orbit?
I'm writing a novel and I'm quite confused if this system could be possible in the real universe. Is it possible that a system exist, where 5 identical planets which could be of same characteristics ...
0
votes
2answers
58 views
Saturn ring stabilization
The rings of Saturn are the most extensive planetary ring system of any planet in the Solar System.
I'm wondering, what power is primarily responsible for that stability?
© Public Image by NASA ...
5
votes
2answers
100 views
Gravitational potential outside Lagrangian points or Lagrange points
The diagram in Why are L4 and L5 lagrangian points stable? shows that the gravitational potential decreases outside the ring of Lagrange points — this image shows it even more clearly:
If I ...
17
votes
4answers
601 views
Staying in orbit - but doesn't any perturbation start a positive feedback?
I am not a physicist; I am a software engineer. While trying to fall asleep recently, I started thinking about the following.
There are many explanations online of how any object stays in orbit. The ...
9
votes
3answers
511 views
Gravity in other dimensions than 3 and stable orbits
I have heard from here that stable orbits (ones that require a large amount of force to push it significantly out of it's elliptical path) can only exist in a three spatial dimensions because gravity ...
12
votes
1answer
485 views
James Webb Space Telescope's halo orbit at Lagrange point L2
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is expected to be launched in 2018 and operate in the L2 vicinity, about 1.5 million km from Earth.
It will be placed in a halo orbit around the unstable L2 ...
9
votes
4answers
238 views
Two planets in same orbit - not planets?
Let us pretend for a moment that there are two identical planets that are exactly opposite their star from each other and are the same distance from said star. (This would make them, at all times, ...
