valcatosi t1_j9z2ta7 wrote on February 25, 2023 at 4:57 PM

Reply to comment by augugusto in Euclid space telescope launch scheduled for July — ESA mission to chart a 3D map of the universe, in search of dark matter and dark energy by marketrent

The Lagrange points themselves are (theoretically) literally points. Zero spatial extent. The reason they're useful is that you can enter what's colloquially known as a "halo orbit" around them. Those orbits can be enormous - there's plenty of room for all the telescopes we could ever send.

t3hjs t1_j9z83n5 wrote on February 25, 2023 at 5:32 PM

So If I understand you right, the satellites dont sit stationary on the exact point.

Instead they orbit around the point, and thats possible because there is a circle (ellipse?) you can draw around the Earth-Sun L2 point that is equipotential, due to the radially symmetric pull of the Earth-Sun (if radius is defined as a perpendicular to an axis straight through the Earth and Sun)

valcatosi t1_j9z9qz1 wrote on February 25, 2023 at 5:43 PM

Yeah, that's essentially it. Here's an ESA presentation that goes into a little more detail, since as you've guessed it's slightly more complicated: https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Operations/Libration_point_orbits

[deleted] t1_j9ze3v2 wrote on February 25, 2023 at 6:11 PM

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