<p>While messing around in <em><a href="https://dan-ball.jp/en/javagame/planet/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://dan-ball.jp/en/javagame/planet/</a></em>. I came across a pretty stable orbit of 2 bodies around a star</p>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/bW9Oh.gif" alt="gif" title="weird orbit"></p>

<p>Orbit yellow:</p>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/4KDZS.png" alt="yellow" title="yellow orbit"></p>

<p>Orbit Blue:</p>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/QIHh9.png" alt="blue" title="blue orbit"></p>

<p>full album: <a href="https://i.sstatic.net/MXTrs.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://i.sstatic.net/MXTrs.jpg</a></p>

<p>Is this a know orbit type? if so what is the maximum distance between the inner circular orbit and outer circular orbit?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-31T19:13:32.833Z
Saturn's co-orbital moons Janus and Epimetheus exchange angular momentum every 4 years.
Mike G
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-08-01T06:46:28.933Z
Horseshoe orbits do exist.   I think that's what you've got there.   They're not very common but they exist.  Earth has a horseshoe satellite.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3753_Cruithne with a more eccentric orbit than Earth but similar period that switches back and forth between shorter than a year and longer than a year, moving back and forth in effect relative to Earth.    Saturn's two moons, mentioned by @MikeG are much closer to circular and more similar in size.  They in effect dance around each other.  https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/486/moon-orbits-crossing-each-other
userLTK
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-08-01T17:53:03.523Z
Stability is relative :-) .  Terra has been orbiting for, what,  3 billion orbits now?  What does your simulation show after maybe a million or 10 cycles?
Carl Witthoft
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-08-02T04:04:16.013Z
That's a cool simulator GUI! I've been creating moons and watching them collide, weee! Here's some fictional background: [Why would Hollywood's Planet X (at earth's L3) be unstable?](https://space.stackexchange.com/q/13947/12102) I don't know how mathematically correct the simulator is, and what the masses of the bodies are, but you may have just put each object in an orbit around the other's [Lagrange point](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagrangian_point) L3
uhoh
<orbit>
Weird 2 body swapping orbit
Sam Coutteau
# Weird 2 body swapping orbit

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-07-31)

While messing around in *<https://dan-ball.jp/en/javagame/planet/>*. I came across a pretty stable orbit of 2 bodies around a star

![gif](https://i.sstatic.net/bW9Oh.gif "weird orbit")

Orbit yellow:

![yellow](https://i.sstatic.net/4KDZS.png "yellow orbit")

Orbit Blue:

![blue](https://i.sstatic.net/QIHh9.png "blue orbit")

full album: <https://i.sstatic.net/MXTrs.jpg>

Is this a know orbit type? if so what is the maximum distance between the inner circular orbit and outer circular orbit?

**Tags:** orbit
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Saturn's co-orbital moons Janus and Epimetheus exchange angular momentum every 4 years.  
> **username_2**: Horseshoe orbits do exist.   I think that's what you've got there.   They're not very common but they exist.  Earth has a horseshoe satellite.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3753_Cruithne with a more eccentric orbit than Earth but similar period that switches back and forth between shorter than a year and longer than a year, moving back and forth in effect relative to Earth.    Saturn's two moons, mentioned by @MikeG are much closer to circular and more similar in size.  They in effect dance around each other.  https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/486/moon-orbits-crossing-each-other  
> **username_3**: Stability is relative :-) .  Terra has been orbiting for, what,  3 billion orbits now?  What does your simulation show after maybe a million or 10 cycles?  
> **username_4**: That's a cool simulator GUI! I've been creating moons and watching them collide, weee! Here's some fictional background: [Why would Hollywood's Planet X (at earth's L3) be unstable?](https://space.stackexchange.com/q/13947/12102) I don't know how mathematically correct the simulator is, and what the masses of the bodies are, but you may have just put each object in an orbit around the other's [Lagrange point](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagrangian_point) L3  

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## 0 answers

