Jupiter is accompanied in its journey around the Sun by about 6,000 asteroid called Trojans , one swarm preceding and another following the giant planet . They all move in the same counsel . Except one .
2015 BZ509 , BZ for short , is a retrograde asteroid , which intend it travel in the opposite direction of all the planet and the vast majority of known objects in the Solar System . Being retrograde is understandably strange enough , but BZ also portion out its orbit with Jupiter , which wee-wee it solid proof that these complex gravitative interactions are possible .
The results , published inNaturethis week , progress on several theoretic predictions describing the existence of objects in this state , know as retrograde co - orbital ringing . BZ is the first known example of this type of object .
The constellation is stabilized by how the lilliputian asteroid and the elephantine satellite play during the arena . Over a gyration around the Sun , they encounter each other twice , once when BZ is farther out and the other meter when it is nigher in .
invigoration of the route of Jupiter , the Trojans , and BZ . Western U. Athabasca U. Large Binocular Telescope Observatory ,
This interaction is firm but gentle . It has helped keep BZ ’s electron orbit stable for millions of days , with the near face-off between the two at 176 million kilometers ( 109 million miles ) apart , farther than the distance between the Earth and the Sun .
BZ was find in 2015 , but there was too much incertitude about its range to understandably realise how it was moving around the Sun . For this study , the Canadian - American squad used theLarge Binocular Telescope Observatoryto learn more about it .
It is assumed that it ’s an asteroid , but it could also be an nonoperational comet . This is only establish on the retrograde motion . There are have been no reflexion abide the comet hypothesis , and BZ is a long way away from the Sun to spud a prat . However , several known retrograde target are comet , for deterrent example Halley ’s Comet .
Co - orbital asteroids are a curious but evenhandedly common phenomenon . Even our own planet has several of these objects , the most famous being3753 Cruithne .
