| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Pan-STARRS 1 |
| Discovery site | Haleakala,Hawaii |
| Discovery date | 23 October 2019 |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch 17 October 2024 (JD 2458770.8) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 1 | |
| Observation arc | 3205 days |
| Aphelion | 12.110AU |
| Perihelion | 7.4846 AU |
| 9.797 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.236 |
| 58.80761° | |
| 0.03214010°/day | |
| Inclination | 32.828° |
| Earth MOID | 6.54192 AU |
| Jupiter MOID | 2.69283 AU |
| Saturn MOID | 1.20089 AU |
| Physical characteristics | |
| ~12 km | |
| 13.31-13.35 | |
2019 UO14 is the first ever confirmedSaturnian trojan,[1] orbiting theSun around theL4 Lagrangian point. It was discovered on 23 October 2019 by thePan-STARRS 1 telescope atHaleakala,Hawaii.[2] The object was captured probably a few thousand years ago, and will remain there for 1,000 more years until influences from other outer planets remove 2019 UO14 from its current trojan orbit.
BeforeSaturn captured 2019 UO14, it was floating around theSolar System as acentaur. 2000 years ago, Saturn trapped the centaur in its L4 point, making it into atrojan. However, due to continuous pulling fromJupiter andUranus, eventually 2019 UO14 would be ejected from its trojan orbit. It is suggested that there will be more Saturnian trojans to be discovered, since Saturn has a largegravitational pull.[3]
2024 in space | |||
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Space probe launches |
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| Impact events | |||
| SelectedNEOs | |||
| Discoveries |
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| Comets | |||
