# Lagrange Points

• B
Gold Member
The Wiki article shows 5 Lagrange points. I can “see” how the points L1, L4 and L5 points would be balanced by the gravitation of the two bodies, but not the L2 and L3.

For L2 and L3, it looks to me like the combination of the Sun’s and Earth’s gravity increase pull and make less stable. So where am I going wrong?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagrangian_point

## Answers and Replies

Orodruin
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You are forgetting that this is a rotating system. Consequently, there is also a contribution from the ficticious centrifugal force in the rotating frame.

Imager
Gold Member
You are forgetting that this is a rotating system. Consequently, there is also a contribution from the ficticious centrifugal force in the rotating frame.

So I could think of it like another small planet in orbit around the sun?

Orodruin
Staff Emeritus
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So I could think of it like another small planet in orbit around the sun?
Essentially. The "big" thing here is that the presence of the second large body (the Earth) has the effect that at the angular velocity only is the same at a few points. In other places, the gravitational effect of the Earth will destabilise the orbit.

Edit: Also note that this third body needs to be significantly lighter than the Earth in order not to influence the Earth orbit as well.

Imager
Chalnoth