2019 UO14 is the first ever confirmed Saturnian trojan,[1] orbiting the Sun around the L4 Lagrangian point. It was discovered on 23 October 2019 by the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope at Haleakala, Hawaii.[2] The object was captured probably a few thousand years ago, and will remain there for 1,000 more years until influences from other outer planets remove 2019 UO14 from its current trojan orbit.
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Pan-STARRS 1 |
| Discovery site | Haleakala, Hawaii |
| Discovery date | 23 October 2019 |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch 17 October 2024 (JD 2458770.8) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 1 | |
| Observation arc | 3205 days |
| Aphelion | 12.110 AU |
| Perihelion | 7.4846 AU |
| 9.797 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.236 |
| 58.80761° | |
| 0.03214010°/day | |
| Inclination | 32.828° |
| Earth MOID | 6.54192 AU |
| Jupiter MOID | 2.69283 AU |
| Saturn MOID | 1.20089 AU |
| Physical characteristics | |
| ~12 km | |
| 13.31-13.35 | |
Orbit
editBefore Saturn captured 2019 UO14, it was floating around the Solar System as a centaur. 2000 years ago, Saturn trapped the centaur in its L4 point, making it into a trojan. However, due to continuous pulling from Jupiter and Uranus, eventually 2019 UO14 would be ejected from its trojan orbit. It is suggested that there will be more Saturnian trojans to be discovered, since Saturn has a large gravitational pull.[3]
References
edit- ^ Hui, Man-To; Wiegert, Paul A.; et al. (September 2024). "2019 UO14: A Transient Trojan of Saturn". arXiv:2409.19725 [astro-ph.EP].
- ^ "IAU Minor Planet Center". minorplanetcenter.net. Retrieved 2024-10-26.
- ^ Yirka, Bob; Phys.org. "Saturn Trojan asteroid confirmed". phys.org. Retrieved 2024-10-29.
Sources
edit- Hui 許, Man-To 文韜; Wiegert, Paul A.; Weryk, Robert; Micheli, Marco; Tholen, David J.; Deen, Sam; Walker, Andrew J.; Wainscoat, Richard (2024-11-01). "2019 UO 14: A Transient Trojan of Saturn". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 975 (1): L3. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ad84ef. ISSN 2041-8205.
- Pan, Nicolas; Gallardo, Tabaré (2024-10-26). "An attempt to build a dynamical catalog of Solar System co-orbitals". arXiv:2410.20015.
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