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A physics problem that has plagued science since the days of Isaac Newton is closer to being solved, say a pair of Israeli researchers. The duo used "the drunkard's walk" to calculate the outcome of a cosmic dance between three massive objects, or the so-called three-body problem. For physicists, predicting the motion of two massive objects, like a pair of stars, is a piece of cake. But when a third object enters the picture, the problem becomes unsolvable. That's because when two massive objects get close to each other, their gravitational attraction influences the paths they take in a way...

The three-body problem, which has been a focus of scientific study for over 400 years, represented a stumbling block for famous astronomers such as Isaac Newton and Johannes Kepler. Scientists at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have found a solution to one of physics' greatest questions in a paper published this month. The paper, published in Physical Review X, focuses on the three-body problem, which concerns the orbits of the Sun, Earth, and the Moon. While in a binary orbit system consisting of two celestial bodies, the orbits can be accurately predicated mathematically, while the complex interactions of a three-body problem...