What Causes the Sun's Unusual Orbital Path in a Java Solar System Model?

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on a Java program designed to model the solar system, where the planets exhibit stable orbits while the sun's path appears erratic. The user reports that the sun moves in "weird, wobbly loops" despite all bodies being modeled as point masses with circular orbits around a common center of mass. The introduction of Jupiter into the model resolved the issue, indicating that the gravitational influence of larger bodies can stabilize the orbits of other celestial objects.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of gravitational forces in celestial mechanics
  • Familiarity with Java programming and simulation techniques
  • Knowledge of orbital mechanics and center of mass calculations
  • Experience with modeling point masses in physics simulations
NEXT STEPS
  • Research the impact of large celestial bodies on orbital stability in simulations
  • Explore advanced Java libraries for physics simulations, such as JBox2D
  • Learn about the mathematical principles behind center of mass in multi-body systems
  • Investigate the effects of varying mass distributions on orbital paths
USEFUL FOR

Java developers, physics enthusiasts, and anyone interested in celestial mechanics and simulation modeling will benefit from this discussion.

whatisreality
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I've written a java program to model the solar system. All my planets move in very well defined, stable orbits. The sun, on the other hand, is doing some very weird stuff. I've attached a plot of its path, a very zoomed in and a very zoomed out one. It isn't spiralling gradually inwards or outwards, as far as I can tell it's going in weird, wobbly loops. How do I explain that?! Especially as the rest of the planets work so well??

In my model, all bodies are point masses and have circular orbits, and they orbit around their common centre of mass.
 

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All good! Adding Jupiter fixed it.
 

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