What if I told you there was a way to make that happen?
You'd probably protest:
But actually, you can! In short, in 1772, a mathematician and astronomer called Joseph-Louis Lagrange discovered the solution to the 3 body problem.
 |
| J.L Lagrange portrays himself as a humble mortal as he glumly stares at a unknown object. |
He found out that by placing satellites in strategic points, the satellites managed to stay out of harm's way whilst effectively returning information to enthusiastic astronomers! Obviously, he named this discovery after himself. (Read: Lagrange Points/L for short)
L1 To begin off, it is common knowledge that when an object is in closer proximity to the sun, it will move faster.
If a spacecraft were to be placed in-between Earth and the Sun with an equal distance between the two, the pull of Earth's gravity can level out some of the Sun's, making the spacecraft move slower. This can be manipulated to the point where the spacecraft orbits the sun at approximately the same speed as earth, much like the photograph shown above.
Now, the L1 is an a excellent position to observe both the sun and earth, as well as the space surrounding the two. The perks of maintaining this position in orbit are twofold; first, the spacecraft needs to orbit in order to stay up, and second, this greatly minimizes the possible collisions the spacecraft will have with miscellaneous things in the solar system.
Works Cited:
