Sphere of influence (astrodynamics)

A sphere of influence (SOI) in astrodynamics and astronomy is the oblate-spheroid-shaped region around a celestial body where the primary gravitational influence on an orbiting object is that body. This is usually used to describe the areas in the Solar System where planets dominate the orbits of surrounding objects (such as moons), despite the presence of the much more massive (but distant) Sun. In a more general sense, the patched conic approximation is only valid within the SOI.

The general equation describing the radius of the sphere of a planet:

where

is the semimajor axis of the smaller object's (usually a planet's) orbit around the larger body (usually the Sun).

and are the masses of the smaller and the larger object (usually a planet and the Sun), respectively.

In the patched conic approximation, once an object leaves the planet's SOI, the primary/only gravitational influence is the Sun (until the object enters another body's SOI). Because the definition of r_SOI relies on the presence of the Sun and a planet, the term is only applicable in a three-body or greater system and requires the mass of the primary body to be much greater than the mass of the secondary body. This changes the three-body problem into a restricted two-body problem.

Table of selected SOI radii

See also

• Hill sphere
• Sphere of influence (black hole)

References

• Bate, Roger R.; Donald D. Mueller; Jerry E. White (1971). Fundamentals of Astrodynamics. New York: Dover Publications. pp. 333–334. ISBN 0-486-60061-0. 

• Sellers, Jerry J.; Astore, William J.; Giffen, Robert B.; Larson, Wiley J. (2004). Kirkpatrick, Douglas H., ed. Understanding Space: An Introduction to Astronautics (2nd ed.). McGraw Hill. pp. 228, 738. ISBN 0-07-294364-5. 
• Project Pluto