A Venus trojan is an asteroid that orbits the Sun in the vicinity of Venus. Trojans travel in Venus-Sun Lagrangian points L4.; leading 60° or L5; trailing 60°. [1] 2013 ND15 is the only known trojan of Venus, and is located at Venus' Lagrangian point L4.
Sun · Venus · 2013 ND15
Such trojans have little gravitational effect on Venus, which means trojans in Venus’s Lagrange points could’ve been put there by gravitational scattering, stating that the other inner planets (with little contribution from the outer planets) gravitationally pulled asteroids into a proper trajectory towards Venus (this was as the planets were being pulled more towards their present day orbits).
Characteristics of Venusian trojans range from them being a few kilometers. According to a Minor Planet Center list, it doesn’t list 2013 ND15, as it’s only passed 0.077 AU from Earth on 21 June 2016.
| Designation | Cloud | Semimajor axis (AU) |
Perihelion (AU) |
Eccentricity | Inclination (°) |
(H) | Diameter (m) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 ND15 | L4 | 1.20 | 0.72 | 0.39 | 2.65 | 18.3 | 0.6±0.8 |
Exploration
editThe only known temporary trojan of Venus is 2013 ND15, and orbits Venus in a tadpole orbit around Venus' Lagrangian point L4. The trojan was discovered in July 2013 by N. Primak, A. Schultz, T. Goggia and K. Chambers. The astronomers were observing for NASA’s Pan-STARRS project.
The asteroids characteristics were used for a simulation, where it was proven that it was a viable trojan of Venus, the first of its kind.
Just like most asteroids in our Solar system, it’s hypothesized that the asteroids surface is covered in metal-rich minerals: silicates and carbonates, although no information has been provided to support other minerals’ presence on the asteroid.
References
edit- ^ "Trojan asteroids and co-orbital dust ring of Venus". 13 June 2022. Retrieved 29 February 2024.