Orbital resonance occurs when two orbiting bodies exert a regular, periodic gravitational influence on each other because their orbital periods form a ratio of small whole numbers, such as Pluto and Neptune's 3:2 resonance. Depending on the geometry involved, resonance can stabilize orbits over long timescales, as with many of Jupiter's Trojan asteroids, or destabilize them, as with the Kirkwood gaps that resonance with Jupiter carves into the asteroid belt. The same mechanism produces the synchronized rotation seen in many moons and shapes the structure of Saturn's rings.
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