Earth's Very Own Co-orbital Asteroid

[cloudsweeper]

I knew that asteroids were not confined to a belt between Mars and Jupiter, but only recently learned that Jupiter has two large groups of asteroids which are co-orbital with it, following its orbit at about 60 degrees either side of the planet.  They are called Trojans and Greeks, and cluster about the so-called Lagrangian Points.  Not only that, but there is another group of Jovian asteroids called Hildas - yes, Hildas - which form an equilateral triangle with the Trojans and Greeks at two of its apexes.  

Now what I didn't know until yesterday is that other planets also have a few Trojans, in particular Earth, whose Trojan is called 2010 TK.

I apologise if you good folk already know about this and I've been a bit slow to catch up!

Source? - the excellent book Calculating The Cosmos, by Prof. Ian Stewart, first published 2016.  Highly recommended.

Doug.

 

[Davey-T]

Another thing not often mentioned is that as well the bright moons we can see in a scope Jupiter has over 60 moons.

Dave

[cloudsweeper]

38 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

Another thing not often mentioned is that as well the bright moons we can see in a scope Jupiter has over 60 moons.

Dave

It had nine (known ones) when I was a lad!

Present figure is apparently 67, with Saturn close behind with 62 as well as hundreds of moonlets.

Doug.

[D4N]

49 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

Another thing not often mentioned is that as well the bright moons we can see in a scope Jupiter has over 60 moons.

Dave

And rings too although they are pretty hard to see from here,

[cloudsweeper]

5 minutes ago, D4N said:

And rings too although they are pretty hard to see from here,

.....and Uranus and Neptune also have faint ring systems.  

All these wonders in our own cosmic back yard!

Doug.

[SilverAstro]

1 hour ago, cloudsweeper said:

 and cluster about the so-called Lagrangian Points. 

, in particular Earth,

and when you have finished that book   you can go on to investigate Earth's Lagrangian points which are much used by space science, for example SOHO monitoring the sun is at one such point.

Isnt science facinating !

[spillage]

I am always blown away by the fact that the planets do not circle the sun on a flat plane.

[Ruud]

A video by Scott Manley. See the explanation that comes with it on YouTube.

 

 

[Guy Wells]

5 hours ago, cloudsweeper said:

I knew that asteroids were not confined to a belt between Mars and Jupiter, but only recently learned that Jupiter has two large groups of asteroids which are co-orbital with it, following its orbit at about 60 degrees either side of the planet.  They are called Trojans and Greeks, and cluster about the so-called Lagrangian Points.  Not only that, but there is another group of Jovian asteroids called Hildas - yes, Hildas - which form an equilateral triangle with the Trojans and Greeks at two of its apexes.  

Now what I didn't know until yesterday is that other planets also have a few Trojans, in particular Earth, whose Trojan is called 2010 TK.

I apologise if you good folk already know about this and I've been a bit slow to catch up!

Source? - the excellent book Calculating The Cosmos, by Prof. Ian Stewart, first published 2016.  Highly recommended.

Doug.

 

Hi Doug.

Slight correction:

2010 TK is an Apollo type near-Earth asteroid.

2010 TK7 is an Aten type near-Earth asteroid, and Earth trojan

[cloudsweeper]

13 minutes ago, Guy Wells said:

Hi Doug.

Slight correction:

2010 TK is an Apollo type near-Earth asteroid.

2010 TK7 is an Aten type near-Earth asteroid, and Earth trojan

Thanks Guy - now I check, there is a faint subscript which I took to be a citation indicator, but Yes, it does actually read 2010 TK7.

Doug.

[barkis]

Matters little if you post information others might already know of Doug,  the forum is getting new members 
at a rate of knots, and ongoing, so  Jupiter's entourage  will still surprise many  newbies.
It's all good stuff, there is loads of Info about  the  Solar System  population  many are  unaware of,
 so keep these snippets coming in.

[Mr Spock]

I can't keep count of all these moons...