See title. This is a shower thought that popped into me while slowly waking up. I’m thinking, what if due to e.g. gravitational shenanigans, the pull on a planet is such that a planet stands relatively motionless in a fixed position towards its star?
Is that possible or am I forgetting some astronomy basics?
If you stuck the ‘planet’ at the center of mass of two (or more) orbiting stars, I guess ?
It wouldn’t be a stable system, but you could use active stabilization (i.e. honking big rockets) if you had your heart set on it.
Assuming you could determine your position between the two stars with decent accuracy, you shouldn’t need a “honking big rocket” just to maintain your position. A small ion engine or cold gas thruster should suffice.
Depends how big a planet is…