Enter the Trojans
In astronomy, a Trojan is an asteroid or moon that shares an orbit with a larger asteroid or moon, but does not collide with it. The Trojan orbits within one of the Lagrangian points of stability ahead or behind the main body.
Usually the asteroids which accompany Jupiter around its orbit come to mind when you mention the Trojans. The Jupiter asteroids were the first discovered, and are believed to be almost as numerous as those in the asteroid belt. Since the Jupiter Trojans were discovered, scientist have found “Trojans” in the orbits of Mars, Neptune, and Saturn.
Discovered in Jupiter’s orbit in 1906 (588 Achilles was the very first one particular), there are already 4,076 Jupiter Trojans discovered so far. You will find believed to be over a million Jupiter Trojans larger than 1 km in diameter. As within the main asteroid belt, the Trojans form asteroid “families”. At present, most scientist think the Trojans are “captured Kuiper Belt Objects. At times the “capture†appears to imperfect. The comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 is believed to have been one such imperfect capture.
At present you can find only four identified Mars Trojans, and seven around Neptune. There could possibly be a lot of more Trojans than those recorded so far; we’re just not in a position to see them yet. Possibly when New Horizons passes Neptune…
