Much like the famed Trojan horse, Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids are hiding a secret.
According to a new study published in the journal Nature Astronomy, the existence of a bound pair of “Trojan asteroids” trapped in a stable orbit around Jupiter suggests the early solar system was shaken up by a battle between the giant planets much earlier than astronomers previously thought.
“The Trojans were likely captured during a dramatic period of dynamic instability when a skirmish between the solar system’s giant planets — Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune — occurred,” said lead author David Nesvorny of the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in a press release.
