In celestial mechanics, the Lagrangian points (/ləˈɡrɑːndʒiən/ also Lagrange points[1], L-points, or

libration points) are the points near two large bodies in orbit where a small object will maintain its
position relative to the large moving objects. At other locations, the small object would go into its own
orbit around one of the large bodies, but at the Lagrangian points the gravitational forces from the two
large objects, the centripetal force from being in orbit, and (for certain points) the Coriolis acceleration
all match up in a way that makes the small object mantain a stable or nearly stable position relative to
the large moving objects.

There are five such points, labeled L1 to L5, all in the orbital plane of the two large bodies. The first
three are on the line through the two large bodies; the last two, L4 and L5, each form an equilateral
triangle with the two large bodies. The two latter points are stable, which implies that objects can orbit
around them in a rotating coordinate system tied to the two large bodies.

Several planets have satellites near their L4 and L5 points (trojans) with respect to the Sun, with Jupiter
in particular having more than a million of these. Artificial satellites have been placed at L1 and L2 with
respect to the Sun and Earth, and Earth and the Moon, for various purposes,[2] and the Lagrangian
points have been proposed for a variety of future uses in space exploration.

History

The three collinear Lagrange points (L1, L2, L3) were discovered by Leonhard Euler a few years before
Joseph-Louis Lagrange discovered the remaining two.[3][4]

In 1772, Lagrange published an "Essay on the three-body problem". In the first chapter he considered
the general three-body problem. From that, in the second chapter, he demonstrated two special
constant-pattern solutions, the collinear and the equilateral, for any three masses, with circular orbit

Lagrange points

The five Lagrangian points are labeled and defined as follows:

The L1 point lies on the line defined by the two large masses M1 and M2, and between them. It is the
most intuitively understood of the Lagrangian points: the one where the gravitational attraction of M2
partially cancels M1's gravitational attraction.

Explanation

An object that orbits the Sun more closely than Earth would normally have a shorter orbital period than
Earth, but that ignores the effect of Earth's own gravitational pull. If the object is directly between Earth
and the Sun, then Earth's gravity counteracts some of the Sun's pull on the object, and therefore
increases the orbital period of the object. The closer to Earth the object is, the greater this effect is. At
the L1 point, the orbital period of the object becomes exactly equal to Earth's orbital period. L1 is about
1.5 million kilometers from Earth, or 0.01 au, 1/100th the distance to the Sun.[6]

The L2 point lies on the line through the two large masses, beyond the smaller of the two. Here, the
gravitational forces of the two large masses balance the centrifugal effect on a body at L2.

Explanation

On the opposite side of Earth from the Sun, the orbital period of an object would normally be greater
than that of Earth. The extra pull of Earth's gravity decreases the orbital period of the object, and at the
L2 point that orbital period becomes equal to Earth's. Like L1, L2 is about 1.5 million kilometers or 0.01
au from Earth.

The L3 point lies on the line defined by the two large masses, beyond the larger of the two.

Explanation

L3 in the Sun–Earth system exists on the opposite side of the Sun, a little outside Earth's orbit and
slightly further to the Sun than Earth is. (This apparent contradiction is because the Sun is also affected
by Earth's gravity, and so orbits around the two bodies' barycenter, which is, however, well inside the
body of the Sun.) At the L3 point, the combined pull of Earth and Sun again causes the object to orbit
with the same period as Earth.

Gravitational accelerations at L4

The L4 and L5 points lie at the third corners of the two equilateral triangles in the plane of orbit whose
common base is the line between the centers of the two masses, such that the point lies behind (L5) or
ahead (L4) of the smaller mass with regard to its orbit around the larger mass.

The triangular points (L4 and L5) are stable equilibria, provided that the ratio of

M1

M2

is greater than 24.96.[note 1][7] This is the case for the Sun–Earth system, the Sun–Jupiter system, and,
by a smaller margin, the Earth–Moon system. When a body at these points is perturbed, it moves away
from the point, but the factor opposite of that which is increased or decreased by the perturbation
(either gravity or angular momentum-induced speed) will also increase or decrease, bending the object's
path into a stable, kidney bean-shaped orbit around the point (as seen in the corotating frame of
reference).
In contrast to L4 and L5, where stable equilibrium exists, the points L1, L2, and L3 are positions of
unstable equilibrium. Any object orbiting at L1, L2, or L3 will tend to fall out of orbit; it is therefore rare
to find natural objects there, and spacecraft inhabiting these areas must employ station keeping in order
to maintain their position.

Natural objects at Lagrangian points

Main article: List of objects at Lagrangian points

It is common to find objects at or orbiting the L4 and L5 points of natural orbital systems. These are
commonly called "trojans". In the 20th century, asteroids discovered orbiting at the Sun–Jupiter L4 and
L5 points were named after characters from Homer's Iliad. Asteroids at the L4 point, which leads Jupiter,
are referred to as the "Greek camp", whereas those at the L5 point are referred to as the "Trojan camp".

Other examples of natural objects orbiting at Lagrange points:

The Sun–Earth L4 and L5 points contain interplanetary dust and at least one asteroid, 2010 TK7,
detected in October 2010 by Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and announced during July
2011.[8][9]

The Earth–Moon L4 and L5 points contain interplanetary dust in what are called Kordylewski clouds.
Although the Hiten spacecraft's Munich Dust Counter (MDC) detected no increase in dust during its
passes through these points in 1992, their presence was confirmed in 2018 by a team of Hungarian
astronomers and physicists[10] [11]. Stability at these specific points is greatly complicated by solar
gravitational influence.[12]

Recent observations suggest that the Sun–Neptune L4 and L5 points, known as the Neptune trojans,
may be very thickly populated,[13] containing large bodies an order of magnitude more numerous than
the Jupiter trojans.

Several asteroids also orbit near the Sun-Jupiter L3 point, called the Hilda family.

The Saturnian moon Tethys has two smaller moons in its L4 and L5 points, Telesto and Calypso. The
Saturnian moon Dione also has two Lagrangian co-orbitals, Helene at its L4 point and Polydeuces at L5.
The moons wander azimuthally about the Lagrangian points, with Polydeuces describing the largest
deviations, moving up to 32° away from the Saturn–Dione L5 point. Tethys and Dione are hundreds of
times more massive than their "escorts" (see the moons' articles for exact diameter figures; masses are
not known in several cases), and Saturn is far more massive still, which makes the overall system stable.

One version of the giant impact hypothesis suggests that an object named Theia formed at the Sun–
Earth L4 or L5 points and crashed into Earth after its orbit destabilized, forming the Moon.

Mars has four known co-orbital asteroids (5261 Eureka, 1999 UJ7, 1998 VF31 and 2007 NS2), all at its
Lagrangian points.
Earth's companion object 3753 Cruithne is in a relationship with Earth that is somewhat trojan-like, but
that is different from a true trojan. Cruithne occupies one of two regular solar orbits, one of them
slightly smaller and faster than Earth's, and the other slightly larger and slower. It periodically alternates
between these two orbits due to close encounters with Earth. When it is in the smaller, faster orbit and
approaches Earth, it gains orbital energy from Earth and moves up into the larger, slower orbit. It then
falls farther and farther behind Earth, and eventually Earth approaches it from the other direction. Then
Cruithne gives up orbital energy to Earth, and drops back into the smaller orbit, thus beginning the cycle
anew. The cycle has no noticeable impact on the length of the year, because Earth's mass is over 20
billion (2×1010) times more than that of 3753 Cruithne.

Epimetheus and Janus, satellites of Saturn, have a similar relationship, though they are of similar masses
and so actually exchange orbits with each other periodically. (Janus is roughly 4 times more massive but
still light enough for its orbit to be altered.) Another similar configuration is known as orbital resonance,
in which orbiting bodies tend to have periods of a simple integer ratio, due to their interaction.

In a binary star system, the Roche lobe has its apex located at L1; if a star overflows its Roche lobe, then
it will lose matter to its companion star.