# # Program information file # PROGRAM_ID 2021A026 PROGRAM_TITLE Searching for Trojan Analogs in the Middle & Outer Main Belt PROGRAM_INV1 Oriel Humes PROGRAM_INV2 Cristina Thomas PROGRAM_INV3 PROGRAM_INV4 PROGRAM_INV5 PROGRAM_SCICAT solar system PROGRAM_ABSTRACT_BEG During the period of planetary migration, the small bodies throughout the outer Solar System were mixed and transported great distances causing some distant outer Solar System objects to become embedded in the primordial Main Belt. If material from the source of the Jupiter Trojans was placed into the Main Belt, then we expect to observe asteroids with spectral slope similar to the Trojans including those in the 'red' Trojan spectral group. We propose to obtain SpeX prism near-infrared spectra of candidate red asteroids in the middle and outer Main Belt to identify potential Trojan-like outer Solar System material. We used spectrophotometry from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Moving Object Catalog [SDSS MOC] to select candidate Main Belt asteroids with slopes in excess of the average red Trojan spectral slope. We will obtain near-infrared spectra of approximately 40 candidate red asteroids during a 2 year survey. We will investigate the distribution of these red objects throughout the Main Belt in order to provide further constraints on dynamical models of giant planet migration in the early Solar System. We request a total of 24.8 hours [approximately 2.5 nights] in 2020B to observe 8 targets with the SpeX prism mode [0.7-2.5 microns]. To meet our observations goals, we require SNR>50 for observations taken at airmass less than 1.5. These near-infrared spectra will be paired with visible spectra from the Lowell Discovery Telescope to search for the 0.7 micron feature on our targets PROGRAM_ABSTRACT_END