Lucy Mission to the Trojan Asteroids: Science Goals

Stability of the Trojan asteroids

The Nordtvedt effect in the Trojan asteroids

Bounds to the Nordtvedt parameter are obtained from the motion of the first twelve Trojan asteroids in the period 1906-1990. From the analysis performed, we derive a value for the inverse of the Saturn mass 3497.80±0.81 and the Nordtvedt parameter -0.56±0.48, from a simultaneous solution for all asteroids.

On the stability of the Trojan asteroids

We reconsider the problem of stability of the triangular Lagrangian equilibria of the restricted problem of three bodies.We consider in particular the Sun–Jupiter model and the Trojan asteroids in the neighbourhood of the point L4. In the spirit of Nekhoroshev’s theory on stability over exponentially large times, we are able to prove that stability over the age of the universe is guaranteed on ...

Effective stability of the Trojan asteroids

We study the spatial circular restricted problem of three bodies in the light of Nekhoroshev theory of stability over large time intervals. We consider in particular the Sun-Jupiter model and the Trojan asteroids in the neighborhood of the Lagrangian point L4. We find a region of effective stability around the point L4 such that if the initial point of an orbit is inside this region the orbit i...

ASTROPHYSICS Effective stability of the Trojan asteroids

We study the spatial circular restricted problem of three bodies in the light of Nekhoroshev theory of stability over large time intervals. We consider in particular the Sun-Jupiter model and the Trojan asteroids in the neighborhood of the Lagrangian point L 4. We find a region of effective stability around the point L 4 such that if the initial point of an orbit is inside this region the orbit...