Jupiter’s Metastable Companions
Jovian co-orbitals share Jupiter’s orbit and exhibit 1:1 mean-motion resonance with the planet. This includes >10,000 so-called Trojan asteroids surrounding the leading (L4) and trailing (L5) Lagrange points, viewed as stable groups dating back to planet formation. A small number of extremely tra...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2024-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ad28c5 |
| _version_ | 1827322693000626176 |
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| author | Sarah Greenstreet Brett Gladman Mario Jurić |
| author_facet | Sarah Greenstreet Brett Gladman Mario Jurić |
| author_sort | Sarah Greenstreet |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Jovian co-orbitals share Jupiter’s orbit and exhibit 1:1 mean-motion resonance with the planet. This includes >10,000 so-called Trojan asteroids surrounding the leading (L4) and trailing (L5) Lagrange points, viewed as stable groups dating back to planet formation. A small number of extremely transient horseshoe and quasi-satellite co-orbitals have been identified, which only briefly (<1,000 yr) exhibit co-orbital motions. Via an extensive numerical study, we identify for the first time some Trojans that are certainly only “metastable”; instead of being primordial, they are recent captures from heliocentric orbits into moderately long-lived (10 kyr–100 Myr) metastable states that will escape back to the scattering regime. We have also identified (1) the first two Jovian horseshoe co-orbitals that exist for many resonant libration periods and (2) eight Jovian quasi-satellites with metastable lifetimes of 4–130 kyr. Our perspective on the Trojan population is thus now more complex as Jupiter joins the other giant planets in having known metastable co-orbitals that are in steady-state equilibrium with the planet-crossing Centaur and asteroid populations; the 27 identified here are in agreement with theoretical estimates. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-25T01:32:35Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a083e424b5b5479691014238bf24e82c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2041-8205 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-25T01:32:35Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astrophysical Journal Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-a083e424b5b5479691014238bf24e82c2024-03-08T11:27:31ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal Letters2041-82052024-01-019632L4010.3847/2041-8213/ad28c5Jupiter’s Metastable CompanionsSarah Greenstreet0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4439-1539Brett Gladman1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0283-2260Mario Jurić2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1996-9252Department of Astronomy and the DiRAC Institute, University of Washington , 3910 15th Ave. NE, Seattle, WA 98195, USA ; sarah.greenstreet@noirlab.edu, sarahjg@uw.edu; Rubin Observatory / NSF’s NOIRLab , 950 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85719, USADepartment of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia , 6224 Agricultural Rd., Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, CanadaDepartment of Astronomy and the DiRAC Institute, University of Washington , 3910 15th Ave. NE, Seattle, WA 98195, USA ; sarah.greenstreet@noirlab.edu, sarahjg@uw.eduJovian co-orbitals share Jupiter’s orbit and exhibit 1:1 mean-motion resonance with the planet. This includes >10,000 so-called Trojan asteroids surrounding the leading (L4) and trailing (L5) Lagrange points, viewed as stable groups dating back to planet formation. A small number of extremely transient horseshoe and quasi-satellite co-orbitals have been identified, which only briefly (<1,000 yr) exhibit co-orbital motions. Via an extensive numerical study, we identify for the first time some Trojans that are certainly only “metastable”; instead of being primordial, they are recent captures from heliocentric orbits into moderately long-lived (10 kyr–100 Myr) metastable states that will escape back to the scattering regime. We have also identified (1) the first two Jovian horseshoe co-orbitals that exist for many resonant libration periods and (2) eight Jovian quasi-satellites with metastable lifetimes of 4–130 kyr. Our perspective on the Trojan population is thus now more complex as Jupiter joins the other giant planets in having known metastable co-orbitals that are in steady-state equilibrium with the planet-crossing Centaur and asteroid populations; the 27 identified here are in agreement with theoretical estimates.https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ad28c5Jupiter trojansCelestial mechanicsN-body simulations |
| spellingShingle | Sarah Greenstreet Brett Gladman Mario Jurić Jupiter’s Metastable Companions The Astrophysical Journal Letters Jupiter trojans Celestial mechanics N-body simulations |
| title | Jupiter’s Metastable Companions |
| title_full | Jupiter’s Metastable Companions |
| title_fullStr | Jupiter’s Metastable Companions |
| title_full_unstemmed | Jupiter’s Metastable Companions |
| title_short | Jupiter’s Metastable Companions |
| title_sort | jupiter s metastable companions |
| topic | Jupiter trojans Celestial mechanics N-body simulations |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ad28c5 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT sarahgreenstreet jupitersmetastablecompanions AT brettgladman jupitersmetastablecompanions AT mariojuric jupitersmetastablecompanions |