We test a crossing orbit stability criterion for eccentric planetary systems,based on Wisdom's criterion of first order mean motion resonance overlap(Wisdom, 1980). We show that this criterion fits the stability regions in real exoplanetsystems quite well. In addition, we show that elliptical orbits can remainstable even for regions where the apocenter distance of the inner orbit islarger than the pericenter distance of the outer orbit, as long as the initialorbits are aligned. The analytical expressions provided here can be used to put rapid constraintson the stability zones of multi-planetary systems. As a byproduct of thisresearch, we further show that the amplitude variations of the eccentricity canbe used as a fast-computing stability indicator.
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