Astronomers from the University of São Paulo have found a group of asteroids orbiting near Venus that are almost undetectable by modern telescopes. The report was published in Astronomy & Astrophysics.
Experts call them “Venus co-orbital asteroids”. They move chaotically around the planet and, every 12,000 years, may shift from a safe state into a potentially dangerous configuration for Earth.
According to the researchers, circular-orbit objects pose the greatest risk, as their proximity to the Sun makes them extremely difficult to detect with telescopes.
Study author Valerio Carruba noted: “An asteroid 300 meters in diameter could create a crater up to 4.5 kilometers wide and release hundreds of megatons of energy. If it were to fall in a populated area, the consequences would be catastrophic.”
It turns out that even the most advanced observatories can observe such asteroids for only one or two weeks per year. For this reason, scientists suggest launching dedicated space telescopes to monitor the space around the Sun.
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