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Trojan Asteroid 617 Patroclus and Menoetius

Trojans are asteroids which are placed in planetary orbit trails. Each planet has three points (Lagrangian points) on its orbit on which such bodies can circle stable.

On one of these points (L5) in the orbit of Jupiter there is the double asteroid Patroclus and Menoetius. This pair from its constitution reminds more of a comet as of a rocky asteroid.

Distance to the Sun: 5.87 AU
Orbit period: 11.86 years = 4332.6 days
Space between Patroclus and Menoetius: 680 kilometers

Patroclus

Diameter: 122 km
  

Menoetius

Diameter: 112 km

Back: Objects in the Solar System 		    Patroclus and Menoetius
Graphic: W.M. Keck Observatory
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