Stationary configurations for co-orbital satellites with small arbitrary masses (Q1766789)

The plane \((N+1)\)-body problem (\(N\) co-orbital satellites orbiting a much more massive central planet) is considered. Some planar stationary configurations (called some times as relative equilibria) are studied. The existence of the stationary configurations depends on the parity the numbers \(N\) (odd or even). It is shown that for the \(N\) odd and for a given angular configuration there is always a set of satellite masses which achieve stationary. For \(N\) even, on the contrary, there is in general no combinations of masses which ensure stationary for a given angular configurations.