AbstractA new approach to the study of the Solar System and planetary systems in general is proposed, through the use of periodic planetary-type orbits of the general N-body problem. In such an orbit, one body (called Sun) has a large mass and the rest N-l bodies (called planets) have small but not negligible masses and it can be proved that monoparametric families of periodic orbits of the N-body problem exist in a rotating frame of reference, all being of the planetary type.Two cases are studied in detail, N=3 and N=4. In N=3, apart from a general discussion, we present a detailed analysis of the Sun-Jupiter-Saturn system and a study is made on which configurations with the masses of these two planets, or a multiple of them, are stable or unstable. Also, part of a family is shown to represent the Jupiter family of comets. It was found that commensurabilities are not in general associated with instabilities. For N=4 we present three families of periodic orbits. The motion corresponding to a branch of one of the above families has many similarities with the actual motion of the three inner satellites of Jupiter.It is shown that there exist many commensurable cases in the obtained periodic orbits and that the resonant orbits increase as the number of bodies increases. Based on these results, an attempt is made to explain the existence of commensurabilities in the Solar System.Finally, it is mentioned that a periodic motion of the planetary type can be used as a reference orbit for accurate computations for the actual motions of the planets or satellites of the Solar System. In this way the small divisor difficulties existing in the classical approach will not appear.
Stability of Periodic Planetary-Type Orbits of the General Planar N-Body Problem
