Asri-unix.685
net.space
utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!ARPAVAX:C70:sri-unix!knutsen@SRI-UNIX
Wed Feb  3 21:55:29 1982
Saturnian moons
       Here is another interesting thing about the moons, extracted
from the news story:
--------
       One of the confirmed little moons and one of the ''possible''
   satellites are companions of the larger moon, Tethys, and appear to
   move in what Synnott referred to as ''horseshoe'' orbits.
       Satellites in horseshoe orbits trade orbits as they approach each
   other, the NASA spokesman said.
--------
       From the name "horseshoe", I assume the moons actually loop
around each other and change direction, rather than deflecting
slightly and following the path the other moon approached in.
This might be interesting to watch, especially if one were (firmly)
attached to one of the moons.
       However my intuition rebels against the idea. Is there really
enough gravitational attraction to do this? Would such an arrangement
be stable? What would the tides be like?

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