Archive · 28 Sep 2025
Scientists Warn of Hidden Asteroid Threat from Venus
Imagine space rocks, some big enough to hurt a city, are hanging out near Venus.
Scientists found many of them.
Because they are near the sun, they are hard to see with our current telescopes.
These rocks have the same travel time as Venus.
While none of them are heading towards Earth right now, their paths could change over thousands of years.
Gravity could shift them.
Scientists plan to use new telescopes that will find these asteroids.
We need to find them to protect Earth!
Scientists found numerous asteroids co-orbiting Venus, posing potential risks to Earth.
Many of these asteroids are 'city-killer' size.
Current ground-based methods struggle to detect many of them.
Simulations show some asteroids could evolve into Earth-crossing orbits.
Future space-based telescopes will aid detection.
- Who
- Astronomers led by Valerio Carruba
- What
- Identified potentially hazardous asteroids co-orbiting Venus.
- When
- Published findings in Astronomy & Astrophysics.
- Where
- Asteroids co-orbiting the Sun near Venus, potentially impacting Earth.
- Why
- To assess long-term risk from asteroids currently undetectable.
- Object Type
- Venus co-orbital asteroids
- Size of concern
- At least 140 meters wide ('city killers')
- Known co-orbitals
- Around 20
- Orbital Eccentricity
- Most have high eccentricity (e > 0.38)
- Potential Hazard
- City-killer impacts on Earth
- Timeframe
- Simulations over 12,000-year cycles
- Future Surveys
- NASA's NEO Surveyor