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Indian Express
07-06-2025
- Science
- Indian Express
City-killer asteroids orbiting near Venus could someday hit Earth without warning, says study
A swarm of giant 'city killer' asteroids hiding near Venus could someday pose a threat to Earth. Also known as co-orbital asteroids, these space rocks are difficult to track since they often travel near planets without orbiting them and have no fixed trajectory. According to a new study by astronomers at the Sao Paulo State University, Venus currently has 20 known giant asteroids around it. These include 'trojan' asteroids, which are either fixed in front or back of a planet's orbital plane and a quasi-moon named Zoozve. All of these 20 killer asteroids are said to have originated from our Solar System's asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter are likely bigger than 140 metres in size, meaning they could potentially devastate a city if they hit Earth. While these space rocks don't pose any threat from where they are right now, since they don't have a fixed orbital path, the Earth's gravitational pull could put them on a collision course with the planet. What makes the threat real is that Venus, the planet closest to Earth, is just 25 million miles or 40 million kilometres away. The research paper, published on arXiv, simulated the behaviour of these city-killer asteroids with less elongated objects over 36,000 years. The result hinted that some of these could eventually come near Earth and may be pulled by our planet's gravitational pull, but the chances of this happening are pretty unlikely. Most known asteroids near Venus have an eccentric orbit, which makes them easy to see during short observation windows. However, the study hints that there may be several more objects with lower orbital eccentricities that are hidden by the Sun's glare. As it turns out, we may not be able to spot these hidden space rocks until they approach Earth. The astronomers who published the study said that 'this is most likely caused by observational biases since asteroids with larger eccentricities may approach the Earth and are easier to detect.' But since the exact number of these hidden objects is still unknown, it is pretty hard to say what risk they pose to Earth. 'I believe that we should not underestimate their potential danger, but I would not lose sleep over this issue,' said Valerio Carruba, the lead author of the study.
NDTV
29-05-2025
- Science
- NDTV
3 'City-Killer' Asteroids Could Strike Earth In Weeks, Say Scientists
At least three large asteroids, powerful enough to destroy an entire city, could be on a collision course with Earth in the coming weeks, a new study has warned. Published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, the study highlights the threat posed by three space rocks-named 2020 SB, 524522, and 2002 CL1-which currently share an orbit with Venus. According to the international research team led by Valerio Carruba from Sao Paulo State University in Brazil, these asteroids are hidden in the Sun's glare, making them nearly impossible to detect with telescopes on Earth. While their current paths don't bring them close to Venus, researchers caution that even a minor gravitational disturbance could shift their orbits toward Earth, with potentially catastrophic consequences. If one were to strike, the impact could create a crater more than 3 kilometres wide and release energy up to a million times greater than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Fox News reported. "These co-orbital asteroids are protected from close encounters with Venus, but not with Earth," the researchers said, as quoted by The Daily Galaxy. The objects are especially dangerous because their position relative to the Sun acts like a cosmic blind spot, making last-minute detection extremely difficult. The Rubin Observatory in Chile, which monitors such threats, would have just two to four weeks' notice before any potential impact. The study suggests that only a dedicated space-based mission near Venus could effectively detect these hidden, potentially hazardous asteroids.
