Observation of Two New L4 Neptune Trojans in the Dark Energy Survey Supernova Fields


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We report the discovery of the eighth and ninth known Trojans in stable orbits around Neptunes leading Lagrange point, L4. The objects 2014 QO$_{441}$ and 2014 QP$_{441}$ were detected in data obtained during the 2013-14 and 2014-15 observing seasons by the Dark Energy Survey, using the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the 4-meter Blanco telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. Both are in high-inclination orbits (18.8$^{circ}$ and 19.4$^{circ}$ respectively). With an eccentricity of 0.104, 2014 QO$_{441}$ has the most eccentric orbit of the eleven known stable Neptune Trojans. Here we describe the search procedure and investigate the objects long-term dynamical stability and physical properties.

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