Asteroids hiding near Venus could pose collision risk to Earth
A recent 2025 study has found a group of asteroids sharing Venus's orbit that are nearly impossible to spot from Earth until they're close—sometimes just two weeks before they approach us.
Because they hang out so close to the Sun, our ground telescopes mostly miss them.
Researchers confirm about 20 co-orbital asteroids
Researchers have confirmed about 20 of these "co-orbital" asteroids, and suspect there are many more.
They likely drifted in from the main asteroid belt and now travel around the Sun on paths similar to Venus—skipping collisions with Venus but swinging near Earth's orbit instead.
Some space rocks can get dangerously close to us
Some of these space rocks can get within 75,000km of Earth's path.
If a 300-meter asteroid hit, it could make a crater over four kilometers wide—releasing energy equal to hundreds of megatons.
But because we see them so late, early warning is tough with ground telescopes like Vera Rubin Observatory.
Space-based missions could help track these threats
Scientists say space-based missions like NASA's Neo Surveyor or China's Crown project could finally give us a real shot at tracking these hidden threats before they get too close for comfort.