Term: | Trojan asteroids |
Definition: |
A member of the family of asteroids that share Jupiter's orbit and lie in elongated, curved regions around the two Lagrangian points 60° ahead and behind of Jupiter. The Lagrangian points L4 and L5 host several thousands of them. Originally, the term Trojan applied only to asteroids sharing Jupiter's orbit; however, planetoidal bodies have been discovered at the Lagrangian points of Mars and Neptune as well, and are also referred to as Mars Trojans and Neptune Trojans respectively. |