trojan asteroid

English - English

Definition of trojan asteroid in English English dictionary: an asteroid occupying the Trojan points of the Sun-Jupiter system; by extension, any asteroid occupying a Trojan point
Trojan asteroids: Two groups of asteroids named for heroes of Greece and Troy in Homer's Iliad. These objects revolve around the Sun at the Lagrangian points (see Joseph-Louis Lagrange) in Jupiter's orbit. Achilles, the first, was discovered in 1906. About 650 are known, but their actual number is estimated in the thousands. The term Trojan also applies to objects occupying the corresponding Lagrangian points in the orbits of other planets. Two such asteroids were discovered in Mars's orbit in the 1990s

trojan asteroid

Hyphenation

Tro·jan as·ter·oid

trōcın ästıroyd

/ˈtrōʤən ˈastərˌoid/ /ˈtroʊʤən ˈæstɜrˌɔɪd/

() Derived from the names of the first three Trojan asteroids found (Achilles, Patroclus, Hektor)

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