The earth is around 10^6 times lighter than our sun. Terrestial planets orbiting stars similar to ours have relatively similar radius' and masses,
usually only off up to a magnitude of 10Our own sun boasts a size over a 100 times larger than the earth. Even then, Hypergiant
UY Scuti's diameter is around 1700 times greater
than the sun's
The asteroid belt consists of millions of asteroids orbiting the sun, separating Mars and Jupiter. Their sizes can range from a few metres to
several hundred kilometers in diameter.Stellar black holes formed from dying stars can contain anywhere from 10 to 100 solar masses with a radius over 10^5 times smaller. Supermassive black holes like one at the centre of the Milky Way
can have masses of over a million sunsThe solar system extending out to Jupiter. If being viewed from a standard computer the orbit of pluto (amongst other Trans-neptunian objects) would have an extra half metre radius extending
out of the screen,
billions of kilometers awayGravitationally bound stars which orbit around a common centre of mass (barycentre), an example of a two body system.
Explore Binary SystemsWhilst 2 body systems can be generalised with formula, 3 body and higher systems reliably cannot.
N body systems are notably very chaotic, and keeping a system
relatively stable requires complete conservation of the variables within it. Try adding a planet or asteroids to this system and observe its effect on these objects with the mass of the sun
The n body problem (tackling the unpredictability of gravitationally affected bodies) cannot be summarised with exact equations, where such solutions can be found. In general
finding systems where objects have periodic motionallow them to remain stable for a long time. In this case, the bodies’ being in equilibrium throughout their orbits allows them to theoretically indefinitely orbit each other, until errors in calculated approximations grow too large.
Another example of a stable periodic 3 body system is one where the objects’ orbits resemble a figure eight symbol. This is a crude recreation of that system, obtained from brute force trial and error. Excluding Euler and Lagrange, only recently in the late 20th century has
solutionsto the 3 body problem been found.
Learn More