
Trojan asteroids of Jupiter (coloured green) in front of and behind
Jupiter along its orbital path. Also shown is the main asteroid belt between the orbits of
Mars and Jupiter (white) and the
Hilda family of asteroids (brown)
In astronomy, the adjective 'Trojan' refers to asteroids or moons that share the same orbit as a larger planet or moon, but does not collide because it orbits within one of the two
Lagrangian points of stability, ''L
4'' and ''L
5'', which results in it always orbiting 60° ahead of or behind the larger object.
The term originally referred to asteroids orbiting in
Jupiter's Lagrangian points. Now, other objects have been found orbiting in the Lagrangian points of other planets. In addition,
Trojan moons orbit in the Lagrangian points of some of
Saturn's larger moons.
★ The term
Trojan asteroids normally refers only to Jupiter Trojans
★
5261 Eureka, , , and are Mars Trojans
[1]
★ There are five
Neptune Trojans
[2]
★ Several
Trojan moons share the orbits of large moons of
Saturn
References
1. List of Martian Trojans
2. List of Neptune Trojans