page_title: Mars trojan
hierarchical_section_title: Mars trojan
caption_attribution_description: English: Animation of 1999 UJ7 relative to Sun and Mars 1600-2500&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; Sun&#160;· &#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;1999 UJ7&#160;· &#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Mars
context_page_description: The Mars trojans are a group of Trojan objects that share the orbit of the planet Mars around the Sun. They can be found around the two Lagrangian points 60° ahead of and behind Mars. The origin of the Mars trojans is not well understood. One theory suggests that they were primordial objects left over from the formation of Mars that were captured in its Lagrangian points as the Solar System was forming. However, spectral studies of the Mars trojans indicate this may not be the case. Another explanation involves asteroids chaotically wandering into the Mars Lagrangian points later in the Solar System's formation. This is also questionable considering the short dynamical lifetimes of these objects. The spectra of Eureka and two other Mars trojans indicates an olivine-rich composition. Since olivine-rich objects are rare in the asteroid belt it has been suggested that some of the Mars trojans are captured debris from a large orbit-altering impact on Mars when it encountered a planetary embryo.
context_section_description: The Mars trojans are a group of Trojan objects that share the orbit of the planet Mars around the Sun. They can be found around the two Lagrangian points 60° ahead of and behind Mars. The origin of the Mars trojans is not well understood. One theory suggests that they were primordial objects left over from the formation of Mars that were captured in its Lagrangian points as the Solar System was forming. However, spectral studies of the Mars trojans indicate this may not be the case. Another explanation involves asteroids chaotically wandering into the Mars Lagrangian points later in the Solar System's formation. This is also questionable considering the short dynamical lifetimes of these objects. The spectra of Eureka and two other Mars trojans indicates an olivine-rich composition. Since olivine-rich objects are rare in the asteroid belt it has been suggested that some of the Mars trojans are captured debris from a large orbit-altering impact on Mars when it encountered a planetary embryo.
  Presently, this group contains seven asteroids confirmed to be stable Mars trojans by long-term numerical simulations but only four of them are accepted by the Minor Planet Center (†) and there is one candidate.
  Due to close orbital similarities, most of the smaller members of the L₅ group are hypothesized to be fragments of Eureka that were detached after it was spun up by the YORP effect (Eureka's rotational period is 2.69 h). The L₄ trojan 1999 UJ₇ has a much longer rotational period of ~50 h, apparently due to a chaotic rotation that prevents YORP spinup.
  L₄ (leading):
  (121514) 1999 UJ7 †
  L₅ (trailing):
  5261 Eureka †
  (101429) 1998 VF31 †
  (311999) 2007 NS2 †
  (385250) 2001 DH47
  2011 SC191
  2011 UN63
  Candidates
  2011 SL25
caption: Animation of 1999 UJ7 relative to Sun and Mars 1600-2500
     Sun ·   1999 UJ7 ·   Mars