Orbit configuration

[W0RLDBUILDER]

I don't know how stable this system is. It's eight equally-sized planets orbiting around a common barycenter, each one connected by space elevators to each other planet. They stay fixed relative to one another. The whole system is in orbit around a large black hole at a safe distance. I've seen a simulation of 5 planets and that was not stable, and the page's other example with no sun was 24 planets.

[selden]

To first approximation, long term stability requires a perfectly symmetric configuration. There can be no long-term stability if there's another body in the system, tugging ever-so-slightly harder on the planets which are closer to it than on those farther away. i.e. you'll need a science-fictional explanation for whatever keeps the planets where you want them to be.

[John Van Vliet]

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