A translation of L. Euler's "On the rectilinear motion of three bodies mutually attracting each other"

Abstract

This is an annotated translation from Latin of E327 'De motu rectilineo trium corporum se mutuo attrahentium'. In this publication, Euler considers three bodies lying on a straight line, which are attracted to each other by central forces inversely proportional to the square of their separation distance (inverse-square law). Although not explicitly mentioned by Euler, this is an exact solution of three bodies that move around the common center of mass and always line up. The solution given by Euler could represent a hypothetical situation of Sun, Earth and Moon in perpetual alignment in syzygy, for which the parameter that controls the distances among the planets was found to be given by a quintic function.