LaGrange Point

DeWitt Cheng

In celestial mechanics, a LaGrange point is a moving point in space in which the gravitational forces exerted by large orbiting bodies on smaller orbiting ones, which exert a relatively minor centrifugal force, are equalized. The three-body problem arose when scientists attempted to predict the motion of the moon as acted upon by the sun and the earth. In 1772 the Franco-Italian mathematician, physicist and astronomer Joseph-Louis LaGrange, whose prodigious intellectual curiosity extended to a study of the exact amount of work he could do before becoming exhausted, solved the problem. The five mathematically determined LaGrange points for each dynamic three-body system make excellent locations for satellites.