Thanks for timely and clear responses on the SOHO. I think I understand
most of it, though a halo orbit about L1 remains a bit mysterious. The
website maps are intriguing.
Leigh, the normal hs class has enough trouble with inertial frames that
introducing accelerated frames is too great a stretch. I can see how it
would be useful here and it makes me feel better about the Discover
magazine article that talked of a balance of gravitational and centrifugal
forces. They did not, however, define a reference frame. I think I will use
this idea with my AP classes, however, as this was the source of the
question.
John, are the 60 degree points those called L4 and L5? It would seem to me
that the components of net gravity would tend to pull back/ahead to the
earth-sun line in either inertial or accelerated frames. Is there a readily
available reference you could point me to?