Neptune 'dead zones' hold more rocks than asteroid belt

[Dogmudgeon]

Chad Trujillo (discoverer of Quaoar) is at it again. If he keeps this up, he will soon be the Bruce Springsteen of Astronomy.

The 'dead zones' in question are Neptune's leading and trailing Lagrange/Trojan points.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19309-neptune-dead-zones-hold-more-rocks-than-asteroid-belt.html">Neptune 'dead zones' hold more rocks than asteroid belt
22:10 12 August 2010 by Caitlin Stier

An asteroid that is trapped in a 'dead zone' behind Neptune has been found for the first time. The finding suggests that the blue planet's rock collection may outnumber objects in the main asteroid belt and may provide clues to the origin of comets.

Objects can become trapped in two gravitational dead zones around Neptune, where the forces of the sun and the planet balance out. In the last decade, astronomers have identified six asteroids – called Trojans – in the zone that moves in front of the planet along its orbit. But finding Trojans in the region trailing the planet has proved more difficult, because the faint light reflected off of objects there is washed out by brighter starlight from the plane of the Milky Way.

Now, thanks to strategically located dust clouds, Scott Sheppard at the Carnegie Institution of Washington and Chadwick Trujillo at the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii have spied the first such trailing Trojan.

...

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19309-neptune-dead-zones-hold-more-rocks-than-asteroid-belt.html">Read the whole article at NewScientist.

--d!

[IndianaGreen]

1. BBC: New Trojan asteroid found in Neptune's dead zone

Here is the BBC's reporting of this story.

New Trojan asteroid found in Neptune's dead zone

By Howard Falcon-Lang

Science reporter

Astronomers have found a new 100km diameter Trojan asteroid near Neptune.

Trojans are a type of asteroid found in space graveyards. They shed light on what the early Solar System was like.

Scientists say up to 150 similar objects could await discovery in the same area.

The new asteroid was discovered by Dr Scott Sheppard of the Carnegie Institution and Dr Chadwick Trujillo of the Gemini Observatory, Hawaii.

Their findings are published in the journal Science.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-10954453

[txlibdem]

2. Do I hear a job opening for an asteroid miner is opening up?

Sign me up, I saw that Bruce Willis movie.

[krispos42]

3. 8 planets, that's 16 Trojan points.

C'mon, NASA, let's get some probes out there!