Lagrange Points of the Earth-Sun System A mechanical system with three objects, say the Barth, Moon and Sun, constitutes a three-body problem. The three-body problem is {amous in both mathemati and physics eirles, and mathematicians inthe 1950s finally managed an elegant proof that iis impossible to solve. However, approximate solutions can be very useful, particularly when the masses ofthe tree objects differ greatly. 18th century mathematicians Leonhard Buler and Joseph-Louis Lagrange discovered that there were five special points in this rotating | reference frame where a gravitational equilibrium could be maintained. These five points were named Lagrange points and numbered from L! to LS. That i, an object placed at any one ofthese five points in the rotating frame would stay there, with te effective forces with respect to this frame canceling, The Lagrange points can be visualized as three-body eguipotental surfaces, Objects placed atthe [LaGrange point ofthe Ferth-Nloon system eould be maintained there and would then orbit the Sun, keeping the same relative [position with respect to the Farth-Moon system, ln recent years a number of space exploration satellites have made use ofthe Earth-Sun Lagrange points for positioning observational satellites. The diagram below gives the general geometry, but the great mass difference between the Sun and the Earth makes it hard to draw the Earth-Sun Lagrange points to scale. While 3 would be on the opposite side of the Sun and therefore not obviously useful, [Lagrange points L1 and L.2 have been used for observational satellites. Lagrange Point Locations Ly “The Lagrange points L4 and LS constitute table equilibrium points, so thet an object placed there would be ina stable orbit -e-bo5—-— with respect to My and Mp, With small departures from L4 or 1S, there would be aa effective restoring foree to bring & satellite back to the stable point Ls "The Lagrange points L1, L2 and L3 would not appear to be so useful because they are unstable equilibrium points. Like balancing a [pencil om its point, keeping a satelite there is theoretically possible, but any perturbing influence will drive t out of equiliorium, However, in practice these Lagrange points have proven to be very useful indeed since a spacecraft can be made to execute a small lorbit about one of these Lagrange points with a very small expenditure of energy. They have provided useful places to "park 2 ‘spacecraft for observations. Taese orbits around LI and L2 ate often called “aalo orbits The Farth-Sun Lagrange point L2 has been used forthe Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), L2 is positioned outside the Earths orbit so that the WMAP can always face away from both the Sun and the Earth, an important feature of a deep-space probe ‘so that it can emplay ultra-senstive detectors without the danger of them being “blinded” by looking atthe Sun or the Hart, This L2 point was also used forthe Planck satellite forthe study ofthe Cosmic Microwave Background, and will be used for the lames Webb Space Telescone, The Earth-Sun L2 Lagrange point is outward from the Barth about 1% of the Earth-Sun distance Reference KlarichNASA Images References io Back Index Joseph Louis Lagrange , omit |Lagrange was and century mathematician who tackled the famous "three-body Soneenss [problem in the late 1700s. The problem cannot be solved exactly, bu he found that inthe | peferenco case where the third body is very small compared tothe other two, some useful approximate | recency, solutions could be found. Sas ldo Back Physicgt00ee see8 orbits Rive