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Chic Bee
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Finding The Lagrange Points
Finding The Lagrange Points

Courtesy NASA:
solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/754/what-is-a-lagrange-point/

The easiest way to understand Lagrange points is to think of them in much the same way that wind speeds can be inferred from a weather map. The forces are strongest when the contours of the effective potential are closest together and weakest when the contours are far apart.

Lagrange Contours
L4 and L5 correspond to hilltops and L1, L2 and L3 correspond to saddles (i.e. points where the potential is curving up in one direction and down in the other). This suggests that satellites placed at the Lagrange points will have a tendency to wander off (try sitting a marble on top of a watermelon or on top of a real saddle and you get the idea). But when a satellite parked at L4 or L5 starts to roll off the hill it picks up speed. At this point the Coriolis force comes into play - the same force that causes hurricanes to spin up on the earth - and sends the satellite into a stable orbit around the Lagrange point.

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Taken on: December 25, 2021
Sets appears in:   • NASA's Webb Telescope     • December 2021 In Photos    more » • Astronomy    • NASA    « less
Groups appears in:   • Astronomy    • Astronomia    more » • [Physics]    • Amateur Astronomy    • Astronomical Images    • Astronomy for all    • The Physics Classroom Flickr Group    • Astronomy Photos    • Astronomy and Space Science - For Explorers of All Ages    « less
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