{"id":166064,"date":"2025-06-07T22:17:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-07T22:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/166064\/"},"modified":"2025-06-07T22:17:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-07T22:17:11","slug":"swarm-of-stealth-city-killer-space-rocks-poses-invisible-threat-as-simulations-show-collision-course-with-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/166064\/","title":{"rendered":"Swarm of stealth ‘city killer’ space rocks poses ‘invisible threat’ as simulations show collision course with Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scientists have discovered that hidden “city killer” asteroids orbiting alongside Venus could pose an “invisible threat” to Earth over the coming millennia, according to new research. <\/p>\n

These space rocks, known as co-orbital asteroids, are obscured by the sun’s glare and could potentially be pulled towards Earth during close planetary approaches.<\/p>\n

Whilst researchers emphasise there is no immediate danger, they warn that improved monitoring systems are crucial to track these potentially hazardous objects.<\/p>\n

Computer simulations suggest some of these hidden asteroids, each wider than 140 metres, could threaten Earth within a 36,000-year period if they remain undetected.<\/p>\n

Co-orbital asteroids are space rocks that orbit the sun alongside a planet without truly orbiting the larger object.<\/p>\n

Twenty such asteroids are currently known around Venus, ranging from Trojan asteroids fixed in the planet’s orbital plane to a closely circling quasimoon called Zoozve.<\/p>\n

All these Venusian space rocks likely originated from the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.<\/p>\n

Each measures wider than 140 metres, classifying them as “city killers” capable of devastating heavily populated areas upon impact.<\/p>\n

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Asteroid\"\/<\/p>\n

A swarm of asteroids orbiting Venus could be on a collision course with Earth….eventually<\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

Venus approaches within 40 million kilometres of Earth at its nearest point, making it one of our closest planetary neighbours.<\/p>\n

Researchers from S\u00e3o Paulo State University conducted computer simulations to assess whether hidden asteroids with lower eccentricities could threaten Earth.<\/p>\n

The study, uploaded to the preprint server arXiv on 21 May, modelled how these space rocks might behave over three co-orbital cycles spanning 36,000 years.<\/p>\n

“None of the current co-orbital objects will impact Earth soon,” study lead author Valerio Carruba told Live Science, dismissing recent tabloid claims of imminent collisions “within weeks”.<\/p>\n

\"Venus\"\/<\/p>\n

Venus does not have any natural moons but it does have a quasi-satellite named Zoozve, which shares Venus’s orbit<\/p>\n

NASA<\/p>\n

He expressed disappointment at sensationalist reporting, noting “our work has been cited with some liberties”.<\/p>\n

Carruba emphasised the importance of monitoring these objects: “We hope that this attention could raise interest in a very exciting class of asteroids, which should be more carefully monitored.”<\/p>\n

The researchers highlighted the recent discovery of asteroid 2024 YR4, initially predicted to have a 2.3 per cent chance of Earth collision in 2032 before odds were downgraded to zero.<\/p>\n

New observational tools like Chile’s Vera C. Rubin Observatory, capturing first light later this year, will improve scientists’ ability to spot dangerous space rocks including Venus’s co-orbitals.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The northern hemisphere is displayed in this global view of the surface of Venus. The north pole is at the center of the image<\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

Researchers suggest sending a telescope to Venus’s orbit could specifically hunt for these objects.<\/p>\n

“I believe that we should not underestimate their potential danger, but I would not lose sleep over this issue,” Carruba said.<\/p>\n

“Soon, our understanding of this population will improve.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scientists have discovered that hidden “city killer” asteroids orbiting alongside Venus could pose an “invisible threat” to Earth…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166065,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3844],"tags":[70,512,413,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-166064","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-sgg","10":"tag-space","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114644401818757974","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166064\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}