A Venus trojan is an asteroid that orbits the Sun in the vicinity of Venus . Trojans travel in Venus-Sun Lagrangian points L ₄ .; leading 60° or L ₅ ; trailing 60°. ^[1] 2013 ND 15 is the only known trojan of Venus, and is located at Venus' Lagrangian point L ₄ .

Such trojans have little gravitational effect on Venus, which means trojans in Venus’s Lagrange points could’ve been put there by gravitational scattering , stating that the other inner planets (with little contribution from the outer planets ) gravitationally pulled asteroids into a proper trajectory towards Venus (this was as the planets were being pulled more towards their present day orbits).

Characteristics of Venusian trojans range from them being a few kilometers. According to a Minor Planet Center list, it doesn’t list 2013 ND ₁₅ , as it’s only passed 0.077 AU from Earth on 21 June 2016.

Exploration [ edit ]

The only known temporary trojan of Venus is 2013 ND ₁₅ , and orbits Venus in a tadpole orbit around Venus' Lagrangian point L ₄ . The trojan was discovered in July 2013 by N. Primak, A. Schultz, T. Goggia and K. Chambers. The astronomers were observing for NASA’s Pan-STARRS project.

The asteroids characteristics were used for a simulation, where it was proven that it was a viable trojan of Venus, the first of its kind.

Just like most asteroids in our Solar system, it’s hypothesized that the asteroids surface is covered in metal-rich minerals: silicates and carbonates, although no information has been provided to support other minerals’ presence on the asteroid.

References [ edit ]