Atlas143 of 3,942

Butterfly IVb.22.B

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

Butterfly IVb.22.B is a periodic orbit of the planar three-body problem: three equal masses that return to their starting positions and velocities every 73.206 time units, published by Šuvakov & Dmitrašinović (2013). A second butterfly sequence with a different topology from class I. It is weakly unstable (largest Floquet multiplier 6.235), so a small nudge makes it unravel over a few periods. The bodies pass within 0.0000791 of each other at a top speed of 113, line up 156 times a period, and the computed loop closes to 8.5×10⁻²³.

Measured over one period

Period: 73.20641532
Masses: 1 : 1 : 1
Energy: -2.10822
Angular momentum: 0
Closest approach: 7.9×10⁻⁵
Top speed: 112.5
Path length: 199.31
Alignments per period: 156
Topology: ababABAbabaBABAbabaBABAbabaBABababABABabaBABAbabaBABababABABababABABababABAbabaBABAbabABAB (free-group class)
Stability: weakly unstable (|λ|max 6.235)
Loop closure: 8.5×10⁻²³

Neighbours on the map

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