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Science 28 July 2006:
Vol. 313. no. 5786, p. 405
DOI: 10.1126/science.313.5786.405f
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This Week in Science
The solar system contains several reservoirs of small bodies--the icy Kuiper Belt objects at its far edges, the main belt asteroids, and the Jovian Trojans, which co-orbit with Jupiter. A fourth reservoir of Neptune Trojans, a set of asteroids that follow or lead Neptune in its orbit by ~60°, has now been found by Sheppard and Trujillo (p. 511, see the Perspective by Marzari; published online 15 June). One of these appears to be in a highly inclined orbit relative to the main plane; these small bodies are part of a thick disk and did not form in situ from the breakup of a larger object, but originate from earlier times. The Neptune Trojans have similar red colors, which suggests that they have a common origin. They also differ from the more distant Kuiper Belt objects, which implies that these two reservoirs had different formation mechanisms.
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)
