What Separates the Greeks From the Trojans?
Abstract
The Greek and Trojan asteroids, trapped at their respective L4 and L5 Lagrange points of Jupiter, represent a poorly understood and exceptional population of minor bodies. Their unique orbital situation makes them a relatively accessible, potentially primordial population that can provide vital clues as to the origin and evolution of the Solar System. A close examination of the similarities and differences between the two camps could suggest the mechanisms responsible for their capture and, in turn, confine the parameters of the Nice Model. Furthermore these objects could bridge the gap between the Main Belt and the icy minor bodies of the Outer Solar System. Here we present updated photometry of the 113 intrinsically brightest (H ≤ 10.0) Greeks and Trojans. These data are part of our continuing program to obtain multi-epoch photometric observations for these objects, as well at phase curves and milti-band light curves for the brightest 25 members. While each dataset individually gives us physical properties of these specific Greeks and Trojans, through a combined analysis, wider reaching trends might be revealed not only between the camps, but linking these populations to other minor body populations in the Solar System.
- Publication:
-
AAS/Division for Planetary Sciences Meeting Abstracts #44
- Pub Date:
- October 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012DPS....4421009C