Christian Froeschlin <chr### [at] chrfrde> wrote:
> An interesting little system you've put together ;)

Thank you! :)

> I don't think it can safely be described in terms of objects
> orbiting a common center of mass: since all components are roughly
> same size and same distance it is an n-body problem for n = 4.

I originally analyzed the orbit of each moon by simply adding the gravitational
forces from the other three to find its centripetal force.

> Even ignoring that, it would be a precarious unstable balance
> at best. It cannot have formed naturally, although an advanced
> (and bored?) civilization might engineer and maintain it.

Let me first grant that of course you're right; since it does not really exist,
it's fundamentally fictional, and I'm sure it still has flaws born of my own
ignorance.

However, much of the same could be said of earth - i.e. it has a precarious
balance, and it is hard to prove how it formed naturally. For some it is much
easier, in the spirit of Occam's razor, to say earth was formed supernaturally.
:)

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