Atlas43 of 3,942

Butterfly I.5.A

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

Butterfly I.5.A is a periodic orbit of the planar three-body problem: three equal masses that return to their starting positions and velocities every 20.749 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 0.00549 of each other at a top speed of 13.5, line up 34 times a period, and the computed loop closes to 2.4×10⁻²⁸.

Measured over one period

Period: 20.74906501
Masses: 1 : 1 : 1
Energy: -1.78853
Angular momentum: 0
Closest approach: 0.005486
Top speed: 13.50
Path length: 55.004
Alignments per period: 34
Topology: ababABAbabABABabaBAB (free-group class)
Stability: stable (|λ|max 1.000, published)
Loop closure: 2.4×10⁻²⁸

Neighbours on the map

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