Transits close to the Lagrangian solutions L 1, L 2 in the elliptic restricted three-body problem

Abstract

In the last decades a peculiar family of solutions of the circular restricted three body problem has been used to explain the temporary captures of small bodies and spacecrafts by a planet of the Solar System. These solutions, which transit close to the Lagrangian points L 1, L 2 of the CRTBP, have been classified using the values of approximate local integrals and of the Jacobi constant. The use for small bodies of the Solar System requires to consider a hierarchical extension of the model, from the CRTBP to the full N planetary problem. The elliptic restricted three body, which is the first natural extension of the CRTBP, represents already a challenge, since global first integrals such as the Jacobi constant are not known for this problem. In this paper we extend the classification of the transits occurring close to the Lagrangian points L 1, L 2 of the ERTBP using a combination of the Floquet theory and Birkhoff normalizations. Provided that certain non-resonance conditions are satisfied, we conjugate the Hamiltonian of the problem to an integrable normal form Hamiltonian with remainder, which is used to define approximate local first integrals and to classify the transits of orbits through a neighbourhood of the Lagrange equilibria according to the values of these integrals. We provide numerical demonstrations for the Earth–Moon ERTBP.