EFFECT OF PERTURBED POTENTIALS ON THE STABILITY OF LIBRATION POINTS IN THE RESTRICTED PROBLEM

The location and the stability in the linear sense of the libration points in the restricted problem have been studied when there are perturbations in the potentials between the bodies. It is seen that if the perturbing functions satisfy certain conditions, there are five libration points, two triangular and three collinear. It is further observed that the collinear points are unstable and for the triangular points, the range of stability increases or decreases depending upon whether P> or <0 where p depends upon the perturbing functions. The theory is verified in the following four cases: (i) There are no perturbations in the potentials (classical problem). (ii) Only the bigger primary is an oblate spheroid whose axis of symmetry is perpendicular to the plane of relative motion (circular) of the primaries. (iii) Both the primaries are oblate spheroids whose axes of symmetry are perpendicular to the plane of relative motion (circular) of the primaries. (iv) The primaries are spherical in shape and the bigger is a source of radiation. © 1979 D. Reidel Publishing Co.