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An Earth trojan is an asteroid that orbits the Sun in the vicinity of the Earth–Sun Lagrange points L 4 (leading 60°) or L 5 (trailing 60°), thus having an orbit similar to Earth's. Only two Earth trojans have so far been discovered.
Astronomers estimate that the Jovian trojans are about as numerous as the asteroids of the asteroid belt. [6] Later on, objects were found orbiting near the Lagrangian points of Neptune, Mars, Earth, [7] Uranus, and Venus. Minor planets at the Lagrangian points of planets other than Jupiter may be called Lagrangian minor planets. [8]
Asteroids in the leading (L 4) orbit are named after Greek heroes (the "Greek node or camp" or "Achilles group"), and those at the trailing (L 5) orbit are named after the heroes of Troy (the "Trojan node or camp"). [2] The asteroids 617 Patroclus and 624 Hektor were named before the Greece/Troy rule was devised, resulting in a "Greek spy ...
The Trojan asteroids, which borrow their name from Greek mythology, orbit the sun in two swarms — one that’s ahead of Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, and a second one that ...
(614689) 2020 XL 5 (provisional designation 2020 XL 5) is a near-Earth asteroid and Earth trojan discovered by the Pan-STARRS 1 survey at Haleakala Observatory, Hawaii on 12 December 2020. It oscillates around the Sun – Earth L 4 Lagrangian point (leading 60°), one of the dynamically stable locations where the combined gravitational force ...
2010 TK 7 was at the near-Earth end of its tadpole in 2010–2011, [4] which facilitated its discovery. 2010 TK 7 's orbit has a chaotic character, making long-range predictions difficult. Prior to 500 AD, it may have been oscillating about the L 5 Lagrangian point (60 degrees behind Earth), before jumping to L 4 via L 3 .
Astronomers believe that the impact of asteroids crashing into our planet may have helped deliver water and other elements to early Earth, so finding evidence of water on asteroids could support ...
In the moments before NASA's DART spacecraft slammed into the asteroid Dimorphos in a landmark planetary defense test in 2022, it took high-resolution images of this small celestial object and its ...