An atlas of periodic solutions to the three-body problem

(threebodyorbits.com)

57 points | by danielmorozoff 2 days ago

5 comments

  • inatreecrown2 14 minutes ago
    Very cool visuals and site! Could I make a suggestion: You show the masses (1,1,1), but not the starting positions, which alter the course of events too.
  • deskamess 23 minutes ago
    I guess I misunderstood or mis-scoped the problem. Does the 3-body problem state 'the general case' has no solution, but that does not preclude some configurations from having a solution?
    • incognito124 18 minutes ago
      That's exactly the case
      • isolli 12 minutes ago
        It's also not computable, as in chaotic. Small differences in initial positions will lead to unpredictably large differences in trajectory (with small and large having specific meanings to match the formal definition of a chaotic system).
  • RALaBarge 15 minutes ago
    This is an amazing looking website, I like it a lot.
  • nautilus12 13 minutes ago
    Is this assumed to be 2D? I was going to ask if there are any observed examples of 3 body equilibrium observed in nature.
    • raverbashing 1 minute ago
      Yes. Because 3 points are coplanar, so every "3D problem" with 3 objects can be turned into a 2D problem on the correspondent plane

      (of course in real life your plane would keep changing, and probably some other complicated math I can't think right now)

  • RugnirViking 32 minutes ago
    very ai but also pretty cool. wheres the data source? could I find my own periodic solution?