Open AccessThe capture of Centaurs as Trojans
Author(s) -
Horner J.,
Wyn Evans N.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society: letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.067
H-Index - 122
eISSN - 1745-3933
pISSN - 1745-3925
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-3933.2006.00131.x
Subject(s) - centaur , neptune , physics , astrobiology , jupiter (rocket family) , jovian , astronomy , trans neptunian object , population , astrophysics , planet , asteroid , saturn , spacecraft , demography , sociology
Large‐scale simulations of Centaurs have yielded vast numbers of data, the analysis of which allows interesting but uncommon scenarios to be studied. One such rare phenomenon is the temporary capture of Centaurs as Trojans of the giant planets. Such captures are generally short (10–100 kyr), but occur with sufficient frequency (∼40 objects larger than 1 km in diameter every Myr) that they may well contribute to the present‐day populations. Uranus and Neptune seem to have great difficulty capturing Centaurs into the 1 : 1 resonance, while Jupiter captures some, and Saturn the most (∼80 per cent). We conjecture that such temporary capture from the Centaur population may be the dominant delivery route into the Saturnian Trojans. Photometric studies of the Jovian Trojans may reveal outliers with Centaur‐like as opposed to asteroidal characteristics, and these would be prime candidates for captured Centaurs.