Orbital Evolution of Trojan Asteroids

Abstract The motion of the orbits of Trojan asteroids are investigated. Four asteroids around L5 are shown to have librating perihelion. A criterion for the libration of the perihelion is derived and expressed by the initial conditions. This criterion is solved for the initial conditions in two special cases. Thus regions in the configuration space of the initial conditions yielding libration of the orbits of Trojan asteroids are established.