Astronomers discover Neptune's missing Trojan asteroids
An international team led by Queen's University Belfast has found Neptune's elusive Trojan asteroids, solving a mystery that has puzzled astronomers for over a century. Using data from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile, the researchers identified two asteroids and a candidate as permanent members of Neptune's trailing Trojan population. Об этом сообщает портал Phys.org.
The discovery, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, was led by Dr. Meg Schwamb and involved scientists from several institutions. The Rubin Observatory, with its 8.4-meter telescope and the largest digital camera ever built, has been surveying the southern sky since June 2025. These early findings highlight the telescope's potential to transform our understanding of the solar system.
Dr. Schwamb noted that the trailing Trojan cloud had been obscured by the Milky Way's bright center for the past decade, but now Rubin's depth and sky coverage have doubled the known objects in this population on long-lived orbits. As Rubin continues its Legacy Survey of Space and Time, it is expected to discover tens to hundreds of Neptune Trojans and thousands more icy bodies in the Kuiper Belt.
