Aug 182021
Israeli scientists solve physics’ ‘three-body problem’
Short form: the math describing how two objects orbit each other – whether a small satellite orbiting a planet, or two stars orbiting each other – is straightforward and well understood. But when you have *three* bodies… Sun, Earth and Moon, say – the math simply doesn’t exist. Orbital predictions in those cases are done via estimates and iterations. Many, many iterations…
A solution to the “three body problem” has been sought for centuries, and claimed from time to time. We’ll see if this holds up.