May 19, 2017
Footnote to Today's Video
I should have mentioned stable/unstable equilibria...
(unpaid, of course)
Comments (3)
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Richard Campbell · May 19, 2017
The gravity instability issue is much bigger on a body like the Moon, where close orbits are essentially unsustainable for more than a few months.
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Daniel Carrera · May 19, 2017
Yeah. I wanted to mention that, but I didn't think you'd see my comment. Also, Earth's gravitational field is not perfectly symmetrical either.
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Henry Reich · May 19, 2017
Well, there were enough others! And the asymmetry of the gravitational field wouldn't matter so much if it were a stable equilibrium (I mean, the ISS still orbits), but since it's unstable, it can be a source of perturbation.