Families / Free-fall
Free-fall orbits
Three bodies released from rest fall together, swing past each other and return to rest exactly where they started.
Free-fall orbits are periodic solutions of the planar three-body problem. The atlas holds 311 of them, with periods from 1.829 to 31.03, for several mass ratios; none is linearly stable. They come from Li & Liao (2019), Collisionless periodic orbits in the free-fall three-body problem. Every orbit is precomputed to machine precision and plays one period at a time; open one to watch it, nudge it or rate it.
Li & Liao (2019). Collisionless periodic orbits in the free-fall three-body problem. New Astronomy 70, 22–26 (doi)