November 9
Mid-Infrared Spectroscopy of the Lucy Mission's Trojan Targets with JWST
Speaker: Dr. Audrey Martin, CalTech
Abstract: The Jovian Trojan Asteroids (hereafter, Trojans) are a large population of primitive asteroids found in Jupiter’s L4 and L5 Lagrange points and are dynamically stable over the lifetime of the Solar System. These primitive asteroids tie together formation theories and dynamical models that explain how our Solar System formed. Trojans share important characteristics with the dynamically excited Kuiper Belt populations, Neptunian Trojans, and Centaurs. As such, Trojans may be one of the most accessible examples of the planetesimals that populated the protoplanetary disk. NASA's Lucy mission, which launched in October of 2021, will be the first to explore the Trojan asteroids. I will present JWST MIRI/MRS spectra of the Lucy mission's Trojan targets, and discuss mineralogical implications for their primordial Kuiper Belt origins.
Host: Ben Sharkey