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    Trojan asteroids tagged posts

    NASA’s Lucy finds a wobbling peanut-shaped asteroid with signs of ancient water

    June 28, 2026, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Black background graphic with a large white title at top. Upper left shows a gray, pea-nut-shaped, rock-like object. Upper right shows a rectangular inset image of a dark textured rock fragment. Near the center are a mission patch logo and a small globe with Antarctica highlighted. Lower half contains two side-by-side charts with axes, tick marks, and blue and green plotted lines with scattered blue data points. Additional white, blue, and green labels appear throughout the graphic.
    During its April 20, 2025, encounter with the main-belt asteroid Donaldjohanson, NASA’s Lucy spacecraft discovered evidence for iron-rich clays on the surface using its infrared spectrometer. These clays, which are similar to those found in carbon-rich meteorites such as QUE 97990, indicate that water was briefly present in the asteroid during the distant past.
    NASA/Goddard/SwRI/Dan Gallagher

    A bizarre wobbling asteroid revealed by NASA’s Lucy mission is exposing hidden clues about ancient water, cosmic collisions, and the origins of the solar system. NASA’s Lucy spacecraft discovered that asteroid Donaldjohanson is a wobbling, peanut-shaped relic born from a violent collision and slowly reshaped by the subtle force of sunlight...

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    Jupiter’s Unknown Journey Revealed

    March 23, 2019, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Jupiter was formed four times further from the sun than its current position would indicate, according to a new simulation.
    Credit: Illustration: NASA/JPL-Caltech

    The giant planet Jupiter was formed four times further from the sun than its current orbit, and migrated inwards in the solar system over a period of 700,000 years. Researchers found proof of this incredible journey thanks to a group of asteroids close to Jupiter.

    It is known that gas giants around other stars are often located very near their sun. According to accepted theory, these gas planets were formed far away and subsequently migrated to an orbit closer to the star.

    Now researchers from Lund University and other institutions have used advanced computer simulations to learn more about Jupiter’s journey through ou...

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    Finding new Worlds with a Play of Light and Shadow

    November 1, 2015, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Finding new worlds with a play of light and shadow

    The most successful technique for finding planets beyond our solar system so far is transit photometry, which measures changes in a star’s brightness caused by a mini-eclipse. When a planet crosses in front of its star along our line of sight, it blocks some of the star’s light. If the dimming lasts for a set amount of time and occurs at regular intervals, it likely means an exoplanet is passing in front of, or transiting, the star once every orbital period.

    NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope has used this technique to become the most successful planet-hunting spacecraft to date, with more than a thousand established discoveries and many more awaiting confirmation...

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