[meteorite-list] Earth Trojan asteroids

[Matson, Robert]

Hi Darren, Sterling and List,

Sterling pondered about Earth Trojans:

> Makes me wonder if somebody has ever tracked the orbital points
> 60 degrees ahead and behind the Earth...  Wouldn't it be great
> to have Trojans of our own?

Certainly astronomers have tried, but small objects at L4 and L5
would be hard to see due to a combination of range (150 million
km), poorer phase angle, and a maximum sky elevation of perhaps 45
degrees at astronomical twilight -- lower when the sky is darker.
It would be an interesting exercise to compute the maximum size
an Earth Trojan could be and still have managed to go undetected.

--Rob