Lagrange Points



Preferably O'Neill Cylinders would be placed in Lagrangian Points, which are places in an orbital system where a small object (in comparison to say a planet) can stay stationary in regards to the two larger objects around it. The reason this works is because the two large mass objects provied enough centripetal force to rotate the smaller object.

Chart of the Five Lagrange Points
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/55870main_lagrange4a.jpg

There are five Lagrangian points around Earth, however points 1-3 are only stable in the plane perpendicular to the line between the two bodies. Points 4 and 5 however are stable if the ratio between mass 1 and mass 2 are greater than 24.96, which is the case for both the Earth and Sun system, and the Earth and Moon system.

The O'Neill Cylinders would work well in the Lagrange Points because of the fact that when an object is at a Lagrange Point, it acts much the same as a satellite that is in geosynchronous orbit with a planet. Things at a Lagrange point are at a "fixed" place in space, which is quite an advantage for O'Neill Cylinders.


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