A recent study published in 'Astronomy and Astrophysics' reveals that at least three city-killer asteroids orbiting Venus may be on a collision course with Earth. Conducted by an international research team led by Valerio Carruba, the study highlights that the asteroids possess unstable orbits, making them susceptible to gravitational shifts that could redirect them toward our planet. Observations indicate that conventional detection methods are unable to identify these asteroids due to their positioning relative to the Sun, which leaves Earth with a minimal window of 2-4 weeks to detect and respond to any threats.
"Twenty co-orbital asteroids (space rocks in the orbit of two celestial bodies) of Venus are currently known," the authors warned in a rockcalyptic study.
"Co-orbital status protects these asteroids from close approaches to Venus, but it does not protect them from encountering Earth," the researchers warned.
"The telescopes can't spot rocks in a sub-orbital path with Venus due to the sun's glare, which shields them like a cosmic cloaking device."
"To make matters worse, the aforementioned cosmic rocks' orbits make them almost invisible to Earthly detection devices."
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