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Lagrange
and Kirkwood
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In 1772 Joseph Louis Lagrange
predicted special stable points at intervals around a planet's orbit
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In 1906 clumps of asteroids
were discovered at Jupiter's L4 and L5
points.
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In 1867 Daniel Kirkwood discovered
gaps in the asteroid belt
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P2 = a3
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Gaps in distance (a) correspond
to gaps in period (P)
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Gaps in period are simple
fractions of Jupiter's period
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e.g. 1/3
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asteroids with these orbits
are disturbed so much, they get kicked out of the solar system
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WHY?
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