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Q&A

Stabilizing Synchronized Orbit

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The planet in my story, Ser, is actually in reality a moon orbiting a larger body called planet Rea. Ser is located in the L1 Lagrangian point, which means it takes the same amount of time to orbit the Sun as Rea does, always staying in between the Sun and Rea. From the perspective on Ser, Rea would not have phases and would always be full and would rise as the sun sets.

The L1, L2, and L3 Lagrangian points are unstable. Satellites in these locations need to regularly use fuel to keep themselves in place. In other words, a regular force needs to stabilize their orbits.

I need a way to explain a stable and completely natural L1 orbit. This does not need to be realistic in the sense of "the chances are a trillion to one", it just needs to be physically possible in a hypothetical sense.

My ideas have included regular perturbations from Rea's inner and outer moons, providing the necessary forces to stabilize Ser's L1 orbit. I believe that it is possible to have a rare, perfectly synchronized system of moons that together keep Ser stabilized in the L1 orbit.


CURRENT MODEL:
Sun Mass: 2.272571428571428571428 × 10^30 kg
Rea Mass: 1.8982 × 10^27 kg
Ser Mass: 2.27268625959933 × 10^25 kg
Rea Semi-major axis: 155037773.469 km
Ser Semi-major axis: 14654840.7502582 km
Rea Orbital Period: 360.312645 days (Earth days)
Ser Orbital Period: 360.312645 days (Earth days)


Constraints:
- Rea orbital period around the Sun = Ser orbital period around Rea = 360.312645 Earth days
- Viewed from Ser, Rea must rise as the Sun sets and must set as the Sun rises. (Part of the established history of Ser is that originally people thought Rea was Ser's moon, when it was actually the opposite.)
- Rea Mass = 1.8982 × 10^27 kg
- Ser Mass = 2.27268625959933 × 10^25 kg

Can Be Changed:
- Sun mass
- Rea orbital distance/semi-major axis
- Ser orbital distance/semi-major axis


Answers must: Calculate and provide information on the necessary forces to keep Ser in an L1 orbit. For an even better answer, improve upon my solar system model to make it more stable and provide insight on its maintainability.

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This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/156075. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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