Scientists Possibly Discover Evidence of Trojan Planet System
By Kevin C. Neece | Published 6 mins ago
Astronomers are excited about the possibility of having found evidence of a Trojan planet system, a system in which two planets share the same orbit. Although this idea has been hypothesized for a long time, it has never been observed until now. Recent findings, however, suggest that scientists’ suspicions might finally be confirmed.
The journal Astronomy and Astrophysics recently published the findings of astronomers who studied the possible Trojan planet system orbiting PDS 70, a young star in the Centaurus constellation. Located approximately 370 light-years away from Earth, this system could potentially be the first-ever discovery of Trojan planets. The evidence collected so far looks promising.
The potential Trojan planet found in this system is trailing a massive gas exoplanet called PDS 70b, roughly three times the size of Jupiter. Additionally, there is a debris cloud in the same orbital path, which is twice the mass of our Moon. Astronomers speculate that this mass could either be a new planet in the early stages of formation or the remains of a planet that was torn apart.
Jorge Lillo-Box, a researcher at Madrid’s Centre for Astrobiology and a co-author of the study, stated that Trojan planets, also known as “exotrojans,” have been like mythical unicorns until now. While they are theoretically possible, their existence has never been confirmed. Discovering a system that contains this phenomenon would bring to life a long-held hypothesis.
The idea of Trojan planets is based on the common existence of Trojan bodies, which are rocky asteroids that share an orbital path with a planet. These bodies can be found throughout our solar system, including thousands of asteroids on Jupiter’s orbital path. Astronomers have speculated that if these bodies can exist alongside planets, then it could be possible for entire planets to do the same under the right conditions.
However, such conditions have been extremely rare and have remained undiscovered until now. Olga Balsalobre-Ruza, the lead author of the study and a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Astrobiology, emphasized the mind-blowing prospect of discovering planets that share the same orbit.
Balsalobre-Ruza and Lillo-Box, along with their research team, analyzed data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile. They specifically focused on the PDS 70 system, where they found both the gas giant PDS 70b and the debris cloud in the expected position for a Trojan planet. However, it will take time before they can confirm their findings.
If these observations indeed indicate the presence of Trojan planets, scientists will have to wait until at least 2026 to measure the orbits of PDS 70b and the debris cloud around the star PDS 70. Only then will their findings be fully confirmed, making them the discoverers of an astronomical unicorn.