NASAs Lucy mission, which released on October 16, 2021, for the first reconnaissance of the Trojans, a population of primitive asteroids orbiting in tandem with Jupiter. In this artists idea (not to scale), the Lucy spacecraft is zipping Eurybates, among the 6 clinically essential and diverse Trojans to be studied.Credit: Southwest Research Institute
What are the Trojan asteroids? These mystical area rocks have been gravitationally trapped in Jupiters orbit around the Sun for billions of years and hold hints to the formation of our solar system.
A few of these remaining area rocks are pristine asteroids that now orbit with Jupiter in 2 substantial swarms routing the planet and leading. Theyre called the Trojan asteroids. Theyre actually mystical and we think that they come from the outer solar system. Due to the fact that theyve remained gravitationally stable for over billions of years, theyre also special in terms of comprehending the development of the solar system. Astronomers have only had the ability to study these distant and enigmatic little bodies from Earth, but all of that will change.
NASAs Lucy mission just recently released on a 12-year journey to go to these primitive asteroids. This will be the first time that we have the ability to see these things up close!
So, what are the Trojan asteroids? Theyre asteroids that orbit with Jupiter around the Sun that ultimately hold the ideas to the development of our planetary system.
These mysterious space rocks have actually been gravitationally trapped in Jupiters orbit around the Sun for billions of years and hold clues to the formation of our solar system. Lets start by going back over four billion years when the recently formed solar system consisted of trillions of tiny little rocky and icy objects. Theyre really mystical and we believe that they come from the external solar system. Theyre also special in terms of understanding the evolution of the solar system since theyve remained gravitationally steady for over billions of years.
By NASA
November 2, 2021
Lets start by going back over 4 billion years when the recently formed solar system consisted of trillions of small little rocky and icy objects. The majority of the others were spread into the distant reaches of our solar system and beyond, however not all of them.