Trojan (celestial body)

In astronomy, a trojan is a small celestial body (mostly asteroids) that shares the orbit of a larger body, remaining in a stable orbit approximately 60° ahead of or behind the main body near one of its Lagrangian points L₄ and L₅. Trojans can share the orbits of planets or of large moons.

Trojans are one type of co-orbital object. In this arrangement, a star and a planet orbit about their common barycenter, which is close to the center of the star because it is usually much more massive than the orbiting planet. In turn, a much smaller mass than both the star and the planet, located at one of the Lagrangian points of the star–planet system, is subject to a combined gravitational force that acts through this barycenter. Hence the smallest object orbits around the barycenter with the same orbital period as the planet, and the arrangement can remain stable over time.^[1]

In the Solar System, most known trojans share the orbit of Jupiter. They are divided into the Greek camp at L₄ (ahead of Jupiter) and the Trojan camp at L₅ (trailing Jupiter). More than a million Jupiter trojans larger than one kilometer are thought to exist,^[2] of which more than 7,000 are currently catalogued. In other planetary orbits only nine Mars trojans, 31 Neptune trojans, two Uranus trojans, and two Earth trojans, have been found to date. A temporary Venus trojan is also known. Numerical orbital dynamics stability simulations indicate that Saturn probably does not have any primordial trojans.^[3]

The same arrangement can appear when the primary object is a planet and the secondary is one of its moons, whereby much smaller trojan moons can share its orbit. All known trojan moons are part of the Saturn system. Telesto and Calypso are trojans of Tethys, and Helene and Polydeuces of Dione.