How dense are Jupiter's Trojan points?

[peadar1987]

So Jupiter (and the other outer planets) have many Trojans orbiting L4 and L5, but how dense are these regions of space with objects? Could you fly through them? Would they be like the asteroid belt, with only a miniscule chance of impacting something? Would they be filled up with dust and small objects? Could you even "see" them because of the density of material there?

[p1t1o]

Looks like they are quite diffuse:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:InnerSolarSystem-en.png

[magnemoe]

36 minutes ago, p1t1o said:

Looks like they are quite diffuse:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:InnerSolarSystem-en.png

Looks like most trojan objects orbit around the L-point as its an energy minimum just like around another object, that its nothing in the center does not matter. 
More interesting how the situation is close to the center, here the gravity gradient is pretty flat. it might even be pretty empty. 

[peadar1987]

Ah, so a lot more diffuse than even the asteroid belt, by the looks of it, thanks!

[fredinno]

5 hours ago, p1t1o said:

Looks like they are quite diffuse:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:InnerSolarSystem-en.png

That seems to be more like how many asteroids we know exist- the Trojans may have more asteroids than the main belt.

But yeah, you should be able to fly through them- trying to intercept an asteroid would mean you'd have to actively be trying to.

 

4 hours ago, magnemoe said:

Looks like most trojan objects orbit around the L-point as its an energy minimum just like around another object, that its nothing in the center does not matter. 
More interesting how the situation is close to the center, here the gravity gradient is pretty flat. it might even be pretty empty. 

Aren't orbits around trojan points unstable?

[K^2]

11 minutes ago, fredinno said:

Aren't orbits around trojan points unstable?

L4/L5 are a very special case. They are unstable, but because effective potential is so flat for such a large area, the dynamic instability is tiny. This means that a single large body would still get knocked out of L4/L5, such being a hypothesis for Theia. However, if you have a ton of small objects that all interact, you can still have net stability. Such as the case with Trojan asteroids.

[sevenperforce]

If I recall correctly, earth is just on the edge of being able to sustain a stable orbit in Jupiter's Trojan points. It would not be stable in Saturn's.