The Five Points of Lagrange

by Neil deGrasse Tyson

From Natural History Magazine, April 2002


The second and third Lagrangian points (L2 and L3) also lie on the Earth-Moon line, but this time L2 lies far beyond the far side of the Moon, while L3 lies far beyond Earth in the opposite direction. Once again, the three forces—Earth's gravity, the Moon's gravity, and the centrifugal force of the rotating system—cancel in concert. And once again, an object placed in either spot can orbit the Earth-Moon center of gravity with the same monthly period as the Moon.

 http://www.haydenplanetarium.org/tyson/read/2002/04/01/the-five-points-of-lagrange/


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Abell 2142 - most massive object in the Universe?

Image
Abell 2142, or A2142 , is a huge, X-ray luminous galaxy cluster in the constellation Corona Borealis . It is the result of a still ongoing merger between two galaxy clusters. The combined cluster is six million light years across, contains hundreds of galaxies and enough gas to make a thousand more. It is "one of the most massive objects in the universe." [1]   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abell_2142 Portal >>>
Read more

Schiaparelli (SkiAppUhRelEE)

Image
Schiaparelli EDM lander [skjapaˈɾɛlːi] was the Entry, Descent and Landing Demonstrator Module (EDM) of the ExoMars programme—a joint mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Russian space agency Roscosmos . [4] It was built in Italy and was intended to test technology for future soft landings on the surface of Mars . [5] It also had a limited but focused science payload that would have measured atmospheric electricity on Mars and local meteorological conditions. [2] [6] [7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schiaparelli_EDM_lander   Portal  
Read more

Great Attractor

Image
The Great Attractor is a gravitational anomaly in intergalactic space within the vicinity of the Hydra-Centaurus Supercluster at the centre of the Laniakea Supercluster that reveals the existence of a localised concentration of mass tens of thousands of times more massive than the Milky Way . This mass is observable by its effect on the motion of galaxies and their associated clusters over a region hundreds of millions of light-years across. The Great Attractor is moving towards the Shapley Supercluster . [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Attractor   Portal  
Read more