5 karma · joined September 14, 2026
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?
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