 Homothetic gravitational motion

For a Newtonian central configuration, set ${\mathbf{x}}_i(t)=a(t){\mathbf{a}}_i$ with $a>0$. The gravitational force scales as $a^{-2}$, reducing all equations to the displayed scalar ordinary differential equation. Its first integral is ${\dot{a}}^2/2-\Lambda /a=k/2$. The total energy is $kI/2$, so the scalar energy constant exactly tracks the many-body energy for the fixed shape.