2019 UO14

2019 UO₁₄

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	12.110 AU
Perihelion	7.4846 AU
Semi-major axis	9.797 AU
Eccentricity	0.236
Mean anomaly	58.80761°
Mean motion	0.03214010°/day
Inclination	32.828°
Earth  MOID	6.54192 AU
Jupiter  MOID	2.69283 AU
Saturn  MOID	1.20089 AU
Physical characteristics
Mean diameter	~12 km
Absolute magnitude (H)	13.31-13.35

2019 UO₁₄ is the first ever confirmed Saturnian trojan, ^[1] orbiting the Sun around the L₄ Lagrangian point. It was discovered on 23 October 2019 by the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope at Haleakala, 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.

Orbit

Before Saturn captured 2019 UO₁₄, it was floating around the Solar System as a centaur. 2000 years ago, Saturn trapped the centaur in its L₄ point, making it into a trojan. However, due to continuous pulling from Jupiter and Uranus, 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 large gravitational pull. ^[3]

References

1. Hui, Man-To; Wiegert, Paul A.; et al. (September 2024). "2019 UO14: A Transient Trojan of Saturn". arXiv: 2409.19725 [astro-ph.EP].
2. "IAU Minor Planet Center". minorplanetcenter.net. Retrieved 2024-10-26.
3. Yirka, Bob; Phys.org. "Saturn Trojan asteroid confirmed". phys.org. Retrieved 2024-10-29.

Sources

• Hui 許, Man-To 文韜; Wiegert, Paul A.; Weryk, Robert; Micheli, Marco; Tholen, David J.; Deen, Sam; Walker, Andrew J.; Wainscoat, Richard (2024-11-01). "2019 UO 14: A Transient Trojan of Saturn". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 975 (1): L3. doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/ad84ef . ISSN   2041-8205.
• Pan, Nicolas; Gallardo, Tabaré (2025). "An attempt to build a dynamical catalog of present-day solar system co-orbitals". Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy. 137. arXiv: 2410.20015 . doi:10.1007/s10569-024-10234-y.