NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s First View of the Neptune Trojan L5 (Trailing) Cloud: Two New Long-term Stable Trojans
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: The NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s combination of survey speed, sky coverage, and depth provides a unique opportunity to study the distant trans-Neptunian region, including the Neptune Trojans. The Neptune Trojans are small bodies on orbits with Neptune’s semimajor axis that are locked in the 1:1 mean motion resonance librating about the ice giant’s stable Lagrange points, L4 (leading) and L5 (trailing), located 60 ∘ ahead of or behind the planet. For more than 15 yr, the on-sky location of the L5 Neptune Trojan cloud has been coincident with the Galactic plane and Galactic center; the high stellar density has significantly hindered the discovery of L5 Neptune Trojans. In 2025, the L5 cloud had moved sufficiently out of the Galactic plane to overlap with the sky covered by Rubin Observatory’s Science Validation (SV) survey that was executed during the observatory’s commissioning phase. We report on two new confirmed long-term stable (primordial) members of the Neptune L5 Trojan cloud (2025 MH348 and 2025 NN80), doubling the known sample, and one candidate (2025 MD138), all of which have been found in a preliminary search of the SV survey observations. We present our study to characterize the physical and dynamical properties of these objects and compare the L5 sample to the well-studied L4 cloud. This work also presents the first characterization of objects discovered by Rubin Observatory’s moving object discovery pipelines using observations taken in an LSST-like cadence, and as such, provides a blueprint for LSST-era analyses.
Language: English
Topic: Astro and Planetary Science
Subfield: Space and Planetary Science
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,400
Funders: National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington Research Foundation, University of Washington, Breakthrough Prize Foundation, Queen's University Belfast, Office of Science, Science and Technology Facilities Council, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Awards: G1229526393, NSF's National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab): Management and Operations of Vera C. Rubin Observatory, Construction of Vera C. Rubin Observatory under the Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC) Account, Final Design, Construction and Operations of Vera C. Rubin Observatory, G2112689389, G2371548206, G262532246, G303061748, Faster, Better, Deeper: Discovery and Study of the Faintest Kuiper Belt Objects using Novel Computational Tools, G4235786860, G4654690619, NSF's National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab) as a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC), G4793106500, G495301720, G498139845, G5570207115, G5991379164, STFC Belfast 2020 DTP, G7434835749, G8382000481, UK Involvement in LSST: Phase C (QUB component), G8649742211, G8726098666, UK Involvement in LSST: Phase C (Edinburgh component)
OpenAlex ID: W7221975293