The object will change its orbit and will no longer be confused with the gas giant’s Trojan asteroids.
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The celestial object 2019 LD2 Recently discovered in Jupiter’s orbit, and which was taken as a Trojan asteroid with unique characteristics for having a comet-like tail, it has been reclassified as an intruder comet forced to behave like an asteroid, according to the upgrade from the University of Hawaii.
The object was first seen in June 2019 by the University of Hawaii’s Ultimate Asteroid Ground Impact Alert System (ATLAS). The object surprised the scientific community for combining a comet’s hair with the orbit of a Trojan asteroid of Jupiter, a group of objects that follow the orbit of the gas giant ahead or behind the planet.
The last considerations place this celestial body, already recatalogated as P / 2019 LD2, in a different family of objects, which also experience the influence of Jupiter, but have typical comet orbits that extend from the outer solar system – beyond Saturn – to the inner zone.
Comet P / 2019 LD2 regularly approaches Jupiter once in decades and changes its trajectory under the gravitational influence of the giant that happens to coincide with the almost circular orbit of the Trojans of Jupiter.
“The newly discovered 2019 LD2 object, initially considered the first Jupiter-commuting Trojan asteroid by astronomers at the University of Hawaii Astronomy Institute at Manoa, turns out to be a disguised kite intruder as a member of the Trojan asteroid population, “concludes the University statement.
The current orbit It is not stable, which assumes that it will change in the coming decades and the comet will no longer be confused with this type of asteroid.
The cometary nature of the object was suggested by amateur astronomers shortly after ad of the discovery last month and later confirmed in an Electronic Circular on Minor Planets and the Central Office of Astronomical Telegrams.
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