I have been thinking about the problem of Stratos orbit
in Glory Season.
The data we have so far tells us that the stellar system
of Stratos is double, with a primary star that I will
call Stratos-S [following a standard convention for
sf stars: <planet name>-S] and a smaller companion,
Wengel Star. Also, Stratos has an elliptical orbit
[let's assume a high eccentricity; otherwise the seasons
wouldn't have a noticeable variation with the position].
It's a known fact in Celestial Mechanics that an elliptical
orbit for the third body in the 3-body problem [the problem
of three bodies subjected to the gravitational forces
among them] is usually unstable, unless there is a resonance
that keeps conjunction away from the point of closest
approximation.
For example, Pluto's orbit, even though highly eccentric
and even crossing Neptune's orbit, is stable, and has been
stable for a very long time, because of the 3:2
resonance between Neptune and Pluto [3 of Neptune's
years correspond to 2 of Pluto's years]. Whenever
Pluto is in the perihelium [closest to the Sun], Neptune
is either at the opposite point in his orbit [180 deg apart],
or in the points 60 deg away from Pluto's perihelium.
The conjunction of Pluto and Neptune will happen when
Pluto is in the aphelium.
[I wrote a small gif animation that exhibits the orbits of
Neptune and Pluto, at...
http://www.geocities.com/albmont/neptune_pluto.gif
... the Graphic Masters of this list please forgive me for
the lack of artistic flavour :-)]
Back to Stratos.
The eccentric orbit of Stratos requires a resonance with
another celestial body; since Stratos-S and Wengel is a
binary star system, the natural body for this resonance is
Wengel star - and then there's no way that Stratos can
be "close" to Wengel when it's at perihelium, because
this would be the moment when Stratos would have to
be *farthest* away from Wengel's star! :-/
Alberto Monteiro
