Further advances on low-energy lunar impact dynamics

Abstract: We extend the analysis, started in a previous work , concerning the formation of lunar impact craters due to low-energy trajectories. First, we adopt the Circular Restricted Three-Body Problem and consider different choices of initial conditions inside the stable invariant manifold associated with the central invariant one in the neighborhood of the L 2 equilibrium point in the Earth–Moon system. Then we move to the Bicircular Restricted Four-Body Problem to study the effect of the Sun on the distribution of impacts on the Moon’s surface. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]