Atlas122 of 3,942

Butterfly IVb.6.A

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

Butterfly IVb.6.A is a periodic orbit of the planar three-body problem: three equal masses that return to their starting positions and velocities every 27.665 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 1.015), so a small nudge makes it unravel over a few periods. The bodies pass within 0.00368 of each other at a top speed of 16.5, line up 44 times a period, and the computed loop closes to 1.3×10⁻²⁶.

Measured over one period

Period: 27.66465642
Masses: 1 : 1 : 1
Energy: -1.75730
Angular momentum: 0
Closest approach: 0.003676
Top speed: 16.49
Path length: 73.350
Alignments per period: 44
Topology: ababABAbabABAbabaBABabaBAB (free-group class)
Stability: weakly unstable (|λ|max 1.015)
Loop closure: 1.3×10⁻²⁶

Neighbours on the map

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