HNHacker News
TopNewBestAskShowJobs

threebodyorbits

5 karma · joined September 14, 2026

submissionscomments
threebodyorbits··on An atlas of periodic solutions to the three-body problem
Great suggestion, I added an option to have it in full screen mode that prevents sleep - click "Open Observatory" to enter full screen mode
threebodyorbits··on An atlas of periodic solutions to the three-body problem
This whole project was inspired by the Cixin Liu Three Body Problem books. I tried to capture the essence and feelings that I had when reading them in the color scheme and design of the website. I wanted a black background, representing the darkness, vastness, and mystery of space. For the orbits and other elements, I wanted the dominant color to represent danger and death, but also feel like a celebration of life and beauty. I thought blood-related colors best fit that purpose
threebodyorbits··on An atlas of periodic solutions to the three-body problem
Thank you very much, I'm so excited that an original author of one of the three body problem papers that this atlas is based on found this.

After you sent your question I noticed an issue with the "hunt" settings. Orbit novelty was not properly assessed, and it just kept re-discovering already existing orbit families. I updated the search based on your suggestions and just submitted an update that now checks candidates like this:

- Does the motion really repeat? An independent more high precision periodicity check is performed to confirm that bodies truly return to their starting positions and velocities - Is it a different form of an existing orbit? Compares against reference orbits from the atlas, allowing for rotation, different starting points in time, rescaling, reflection, and relabeling of bodies -Is it just the same orbit traced several times? Checks for shorter repeated periods -Now topological information is taken into account as well. In the current version, I use reduced syzygy sequences that record which body is in the middle whenever the three bodies are lined up. This was easier to implement than the familiar a, b, A, B notation.

Also, new candidates here are not automatically declared as new discoveries. They will undergo additional validation before they are added to the atlas.

The shape-sphere suggestion sounds great - would you suggest adding this to the "hunt" page, or to every orbit in the atlas?

threebodyorbits··on An atlas of periodic solutions to the three-body problem
Hi all, I just added a new feature to the site. You can now contribute compute via your browser to help find novel orbits. If you find a linearly stable orbit, you get to name it!

https://www.threebodyorbits.com/hunt

Also thank you so much for all the positive feedback, I truly appreciate it. If you have any additional suggestions please let me know