An atlas of periodic solutions to the three-body problem

268 points - last Saturday at 10:13 AM

Source

Comments

pixelpoet today at 1:37 PM
I have something similar at https://gravitoy.xyz

With it I have discovered up to 11-dimensional choreographies, see https://lycium.github.io/hyperchoreography/ and code at https://github.com/lycium/hyperchoreography/

Exposition video: https://youtube.com/watch?v=sIfff10hYZA

Example rendered output from Gravitoy (not of a choreography though): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3BwCoiwsGk

Looks like I need to update my catalogue to take into account the many different 2D choreographies from the references on this site!

mr_mitm today at 1:13 PM
It's well organized, the animations are smooth, and it looks beautiful... I'm not sure what to do with the information, but it's mesmerizing and fascinating. Great find!
cobbzilla today at 4:03 PM
It’s my understanding that most 3-body orbits are unstable; minor random perturbations will set them adrift.

Are there any 3-body orbits with a natural resonance that maintains the shape of the orbits?

If so, how large of a disturbance can the most-stable 3-body orbit withstand?

deskamess today at 11:33 AM
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?
larodi today at 5:53 PM
So proud to see the prof. who oversaw my masters thesis has their paper (and solutions) featured here. :D
jrflo today at 1:26 PM
Quick, someone tell the Trisolarans!
sajithdilshan today at 5:34 PM
Very nicely animated. Also didn’t know there can be so many stable solutions for 3 body problem
inatreecrown2 today at 11:42 AM
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.
MeteorMarc today at 12:29 PM
I assume some of the solutions are stable against small perturbations, while others are not. That would be interesting to see.
RALaBarge today at 11:41 AM
This is an amazing looking website, I like it a lot.
hakuseki today at 2:56 PM
I was surprised that I couldn't find any simple-looking solutions in this atlas. At first I was looking for Lagrange orbits, but maybe it makes sense to exclude them if zero-mass bodies aren't allowed. I think the equilateral triangle ought to be included though.
dreamcompiler today at 1:20 PM
I took graduate orbital mechanics from Roger Broucke. He was one of my best professors. Not only did I learn from him what orbital elements were, but he also taught me the Runge-Kutta numerical integration method.

I didn't learn until years later that he had discovered several of the periodic solutions to the three-body problems. You'll see his name on this page.

moritzwarhier today at 12:55 PM
Wow. This is really cool. Deterministic chaos is my absolute favorite in all the nerdy things there are to like in the abstract world.
boringg today at 2:04 PM
This is pretty cool to be able to see all the varieties.
glitchbot today at 1:35 PM
SPIROGRAPH, lowtech!
khalic today at 12:37 PM
I'm going to spend so much time on this website, very good work
kmitz today at 1:36 PM
Fantastic UX, so smooth even on smartphone ! Congrats
freakynit today at 2:25 PM
This is beautiful. And fast!!!
ur-whale today at 1:43 PM
Oh, this is so nice, but man is it hugely frustrating not to be able to rotate the thing in 3D.

Or did I not find the controls?

RugnirViking today at 11:25 AM
very ai but also pretty cool. wheres the data source? could I find my own periodic solution?
IshKebab today at 12:41 PM
I assume this is at least partially vibe coded, but this is the first good vibe coded website I've seen. Amazing work.
nautilus12 today at 11:43 AM
Is this assumed to be 2D? I was going to ask if there are any observed examples of 3 body equilibrium observed in nature.
hanw040519 today at 2:41 PM
cool!