Orthogonal circle

Given any three non intersecting circles in the plane find another circle or straight line which cuts all three circles orthogonally.

Problem

 

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A large circle orthogonal to three other circles. One intersection is marked B and the two respective centres of the circles are marked B and C. A, B, C form a right-angled triangle.
It is known that given any three non intersecting circles in the plane there is another circle or straight line that cuts the three given circles at right angles. (The circle or straight line is said to be orthogonal to the 3 original circles.)

 

Given three circles with centres $(0, 0)$, $(3, 0)$ and $(9, 2)$ and radii $5$, $4$ and $6$ respectively find the centre and radius of the circle that cuts the three given circles at right angles. Draw the circles to check that the circle you have found appears to be orthogonal to the others.

 

What happens in the case of three circles with centres at $(0, 0)$, $(3, 3)$ and $(8, 8)$ and radii $1$, $2$ and $3$ respectively?

Given three circles, how can you tell without calculating which of the two cases applies, an orthogonal circle or an orthogonal straight line?