| Description: | As of March 2007, there are five known Neptune Trojans (named by analogy to the Trojan asteroids) which have the same orbital period as the planet. They lie in the elongated, curved region around the L4 Lagrangian point 60° ahead of Neptune. These are 2001 QR322, 2004 UP10, 2005 TN53, 2005 TO74 and 2006 RJ103.
The discovery of 2005 TN53 in a high inclination (>25°) orbit is significant as it suggests a ‘thick’ cloud of Trojans. It is believed that large (radius ˜ 100 km) Neptune Trojans could outnumber Jupiter Trojans by an order of magnitude.
If any trailing (L5) Neptune Trojans are discovered in the near future, it may be possible for the New Horizons spacecraft to investigate them as it passes through the region in 2014 en route to Pluto.
Simply copy the SSC file included in this package to your Celestia\extras directory. |
