Atlas45 of 3,942

Butterfly I.14.A

From Šuvakov & Dmitrašinović (2013). Sequences of orbits from the Belgrade three-body gallery.

Butterfly I.14.A is a periodic orbit of the planar three-body problem: three equal masses that return to their starting positions and velocities every 61.323 time units, published by Šuvakov & Dmitrašinović (2013). Two wings of tight loops, with the bodies crossing through the centre at high speed. It is linearly stable (largest Floquet multiplier 1.000), so a small nudge only makes it wobble. The bodies pass within 0.00161 of each other at a top speed of 24.9, line up 94 times a period, and the computed loop closes to 3.6×10⁻²⁵.

Measured over one period

Period: 61.32282881
Masses: 1 : 1 : 1
Energy: -1.72123
Angular momentum: 0
Closest approach: 0.001611
Top speed: 24.91
Path length: 163.23
Alignments per period: 94
Topology: ababABAbabABAbabABAbabABAbabABABabaBABabaBABabaBABabaBAB (free-group class)
Stability: stable (|λ|max 1.000, published)
Loop closure: 3.6×10⁻²⁵

Neighbours on the map

All Butterfly I orbits, the families of periodic three-body orbits, or the atlas map.