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First Neptunian L5 Trojan Found
nprev
post Aug 13 2010, 07:55 AM
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2008 LC18.

http://www.dtm.ciw.edu/users/sheppard/L5trojan/2008LC18.html . From Subaru; note the extremely crowded starfield. Certainly illustrates the difficulties faced by NH's KBO target search in the same general line-of-sight region at this time.

It's a trailer, est. 60 km 'diameter', orbit apparently a bit inclined. Early reports indicate that NH won't get close enough to get a good look at it when it passes through this Lagrange point in a few years, but the search continues for others.


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tanjent
post Aug 14 2010, 09:04 AM
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The notion that there could be enough of these Lutetia-sized objects in the Neptunian LaGrange points to equal the combined mass of the main asteroid belt really sounds surprising, until you bring in the notion of outward migration. Observations up to this point seem to indicate that Saturn and Uranus have fewer LaGrangian companions than Jupiter and Neptune. If I am reading correctly between the lines of Emily's account, I guess Neptune had the first opportunity to sweep up the rubble as the big planets migrated outward. Jupiter, being so massive, probably had some advantage capturing the rest.
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