From: henry@spsystems.net   
      
   In article <1116968809.689468.294700@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com>,   
   Cray74@gmail.com  wrote:   
   >> ...if I recall correctly -- it's been a while -- the hypothetical   
   >> "vulcanoids" within Mercury's orbit would be leftovers from the early days   
   >> of the solar system...   
   >   
   >How stable would be the orbits of "vulcanoids"? They're packed in close   
   >to several planets and the sun.   
      
   The Sun overwhelmingly dominates the situation.  Perturbations from the   
   planets generally cause only small cyclic changes in orbital elements,   
   unless you happen to be in resonance with a planet.  My recollection is   
   that a first look at the stability of vulcanoid orbits concluded that they   
   were reasonably stable over billions of years.   
   --   
   "Think outside the box -- the box isn't our friend."    |   Henry Spencer   
                                   -- George Herbert       | henry@spsystems.net   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
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