A contour plot of the effective potential due to gravity and the centrifugal pseudo-force of a two-body system in a rotating frame of reference. The arrows indicate the downhill gradients of the potential around the five Lagrange points, toward them (red) and away from them (blue). Counterintuitively, the L and L points are the high points of the potential. At the points themselves these forces are balanced.
(echo:: @ ᯤ)