Abstract
The simple periodic orbits of a test particle in the restricted three-body problem are a very good approximation to the streamlines in the accretion disk with a very small pressure and viscosity. The maximum size of such accretion disk is found as a function of mass ratio of a binary system. I assume that this is identical with the largest simple periodic orbit which does not intersect other orbits. The maximum size of a disk is much larger than that found by Kruszewski, by Flannery, or by Lubow and Shu, but it is always less than the Roche lobe. Optical accretion disks observed in 17 binaries have sizes intermediate between the two theoretical limits. Masses of cataclysmic variables were systematically overestimated in the past because of improper analysis of the observed radial velocity changes.
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