Isn’t the 3 body problem (sun, Earth, Moon) very difficult to solve? How did humans predict future eclipses decades even centuries ago?

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Isn’t the 3 body problem (sun, Earth, Moon) very difficult to solve? How did humans predict future eclipses decades even centuries ago?

In: Planetary Science

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Anonymous 0 Comments

You know how two similarly sized bodies will both orbit a spot outside of themselves called a barycenter?

The 3 body problem is less about systems with stable barycenters like Sol>Earth>Luna and more about 3 similar bodies orbiting a more chaotic barycenter. There are a few special cases where it works out and is stable if left undisturbed but the vast majority of 3 body orbits self destruct and either devolve to more common trinary systems or destroy or reject one of the bodies.

[PBS Space Time](https://youtu.be/et7XvBenEo8?si=2ePk04L5D1Yp6VyL) Has a fun video with more details.

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