A study reveals that three city-killing asteroids, 2020 SB, 524522, and 2020 CL1, are obscured by Venus's orbit and the Sun's glare, making them challenging to detect. These asteroids, measuring between 330 and 1,300 feet, could cause catastrophic damage if they collide with Earth. The research team suggests that the Rubin Observatory in Chile could potentially identify these threats during a narrow detection window of two to four weeks. Despite their synchronized orbits with Venus, these asteroids remain a risk to Earth due to unpredictable gravitational influences.
Researchers from Brazil, France, and Italy found that several asteroids in sync with Venus's orbit are extremely hard to spot because they're often hidden by the Sun's glare.
If one of these asteroids were to hit a city, it would make a crater over two miles wide and release over one million times more energy than the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
The team noted that the Rubin Observatory in Chile might be able to spot deadly asteroids approaching from our blind spot near Venus, but the window to see them is extremely short.
Twenty co-orbital asteroids of Venus are currently known; co-orbital status protects these asteroids from close approaches to Venus, but not from encountering Earth.
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