Greek and Trojan Asteroids

Jupiter has a two groups of asteroids lagging behind it in its orbit and leading it as it goes around the Sun. These asteroids are called Trojan asteroids and the two groups are broken down into the two camps during the Trojan War; the Greek camp which is the leading group and the Trojan camp which are the ones lagging behind.

Both of these groups are situated at Lagrangian points which are gravitational balanced points in a three-body system. The Greek asteroids are located at L4 in the Sun-Jupiter system and the Trojan asteroids are at L5.



From our post about Lagrangian points, we know that the Greeks are at 60° ahead of Jupiter in its orbit and the Trojans are 60° behind. Where did these asteroids come from?

 

The leading theory is that these asteroids are remnants of the formation of the Solar System and in as they moved in space, the asteroids got caught in the L4 or L5 Lagrangian points, which we learned is stable. Once they got to those points, they were there permanently.

 

One last thing about Trojan and Greek asteroids is that all the ones that have been discovered are named after Greek or Trojan heroes from the Trojan war.