Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to Solar noise . . .

You're right, of course.

As an aside, here's some other fun facts about the Lagrangians.

An object placed there will not remain locked to the spot, but will tend to drift around it, which is what I suspect the little red circle is in the orbital diagram I posted. How far this drift is I do not know (the diagram is not to scale).

I know objects at the Lagrangians drift relative to them (like the Trojan asteroids) but I don't know if this drift is limited to the orbital plane or if there is a component orthogonal to it. Gaia will drift along the ecliptic, but she may also drift above and below it as well. Again, I don't know.

The moon's orbit is inclined five degrees to the ecliptic plane, so the moon will sometimes appear 5 degrees above earth (as seen from L2) and sometimes five degrees below ("above and below" refer to ecliptic, not celestial, N and S). And of course, the ecliptic is inclined 23.5 degrees to the celestial equator.

I wonder if the spacecraft carries maneuvering fuel to allow it to stay on location, or if its Lagrangian position is sufficient to keep it on station.

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