Stability zones around the triangular Lagrangian points.

The authors discuss the stability around the libration point L4 (and L5) in the circular restricted three-body problem. The dependence of the extent of the stability zones around these equilibrium points as a function of the mass parameter μ = m2/(m1 + m2) is established by using numerical experiments. The results are compared with existing data for the Earth-Moon case, and are then extended to a large range of μ values. The shrinking and even disappearance of the stability zones is well explained by the existence of two additional critical mass parameters below the well known value of μcrit = 0.03852.