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Discussion below this answer involves my feeling that calling halo orbits in very asymmetric systems (e.g. Sun-Earth or Earth-Moon) as orbits around the primary, in 1:1 resonance with the secondary.

Thinking about this has led me to ask something specific:

Question: Is the Gateway's halo orbit bound to Earth? Would the Gateway remain in Earth orbit of the Moon disappeared but drift away from the Moon if the Earth disappeared?

For more on the Gateway's orbit, see

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  • $\begingroup$ This is not primarily opinion-based. All it requires is a straightforward calculation. Just math, no opinions. $\endgroup$ – uhoh Jul 10 '19 at 13:02
  • $\begingroup$ I guess the close votes are because asking what would happen if the Earth or Moon just disappeared is completely hypothetical and counterfactual and "primarily opinion-based" is being used as a proxy for that. $\endgroup$ – David Richerby Jul 10 '19 at 15:08
  • $\begingroup$ @DavidRicherby that could be; that darn Add Comment button is getting so hard to push these days, perhaps it could use a little oil ;-) I'm using the hypothetical as a gedankenexperiment; as way to define "bound to Earth". I don't think the Moon will actually disappear of course; it's just a mathematical technique. $\endgroup$ – uhoh Jul 10 '19 at 15:11

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