Explore how nearby orbits separate in an ideal Sun–Jupiter system. Turn a grid of starting conditions into a sensitivity map, then inspect what each calculation actually established.
Preset buttons change the inputs. Calculation starts only when you ask.
THE ORBITAL ATLASINITIAL CONDITIONS · PREVIEW
A SMALL CHANGE. A DIFFERENT FUTURE.
Explore the space between orbits.
A grid of starting conditions, tested inside one time window. Select a cell to see what was calculated — and where the calculation had to stop.
Preparing the orbital atlas…
Uncomputed grid · initial geometry only
Click a column to inspect · drag to rotate
Initial ellipse only. The orrery shows the selected starting ellipse and Jupiter’s prescribed circle. The engine returns diagnostics, not a perturbed trajectory. Planet sizes are illustrative; orbit geometry shares the AU scale.
NO CALCULATION YET
These are your requested starting conditions. Load an example, then use the calculation button. Grey preview cells do not mean stable or unstable.
A map you can interrogate.
21 × 9 initial conditions
e = 0.35eccentricity ↓
2.1 AUsemi-major axis →3.5 AU
CELL 001 / INITIAL CONDITIONS
Awaiting calculation
Semi-major axis2.1 AU
Eccentricity0.35
Only the initial ellipse is drawn. No orbital sensitivity or integration quality has been calculated.
Integrated years
Not calculated
Completed steps
Not calculated
Finite-time growth rate
Not available
Logarithmic stretch
Not available
Maximum eccentricity
Not available
Relative Jacobi drift
Not available
First radial overlap
Not reported
Sensitivity is not a stability verdict.
The model contains a Sun, a circular Jupiter orbit and a massless particle in one plane. Colours report heuristic finite-time bands or explicit stops. A positive growth rate does not establish chaos. Radial overlap is not a close encounter; low Jacobi drift is not certification.
Column heights show returned log-stretch on a relative display scale. Grey cells and missing diagnostics receive no invented heights. Changing a preset only changes the request.
KNOW WHAT THE RESULT MEANS
Useful evidence needs boundaries.
Low, moderate and high are heuristic finite-window sensitivity bands. They do not prove chaos or long-term stability; even an integrable orbit can show high finite-time sensitivity.
The model has a circular Jupiter, a massless particle and planar motion. Other planets, inclination, relativity and real ephemerides are absent.
The 3D orbit is initial geometry derived from the parameters. Body sizes and diagnostic heights use explanatory scales; the engine does not return a perturbed trajectory time series.
Radial overlap uses the instantaneous osculating ellipse. It does not identify an actual encounter or collision time.
Close-encounter guards sample numerical substeps and can miss passages between samples. A small sampled Jacobi drift does not certify trajectory accuracy.
Cells that do not fit the work budget are not calculated. Actual integrated duration may be shorter than the requested window, and completed steps differ from reserved work.