Scientists warn Venus hides deadly “city-killer” asteroids with Earth in their crosshairs

• Researchers have discovered three massive “city-killer” asteroids hidden in Venus’s orbit that are undetectable until it is potentially too late.
• These asteroids, ranging from 330 to 1,300 feet, could strike Earth with minimal warning, unleashing devastation far worse than Hiroshima.
• Venus’s gravitational pull traps these asteroids, making them hard to detect due to the Sun’s glare; current systems miss them entirely.
• An impact would create a two-mile crater, trigger tsunamis, and ignite firestorms, dwarfing the 1908 Tunguska event.
• Only a Venus-orbiting probe could reliably track these threats, as Earth-based telescopes offer just weeks of warning, which is far too late to act.

Researchers have uncovered at least three massive asteroids, each capable of wiping out entire cities, hiding in Venus’s orbit, undetectable until it may be too late. These space rocks, ominously dubbed “city-killers,” measure between 330 and 1,300 feet in diameter and could collide with Earth with just weeks of warning, unleashing devastation a million times more powerful than the Hiroshima atomic bomb.

The study, led by Valerio Carruba of São Paulo University and published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, exposes a glaring vulnerability in planetary defense: asteroids co-orbiting Venus are shielded from Earth’s telescopes by the Sun’s blinding glare. With unstable paths that could abruptly shift toward our planet, these cosmic threats — 2020 SB, 524522, and 2020 CL1 — represent a ticking time bomb.

A blind spot with deadly consequences

Most asteroids reside in the belt between Mars and Jupiter, but Venus’s gravitational pull has trapped a cluster of co-orbital asteroids that periodically cross Earth’s path. “Twenty co-orbital asteroids of Venus are currently known,” the researchers wrote. “Co-orbital status protects these asteroids from close approaches to Venus, but it does not protect them from encountering Earth.”

The three most hazardous asteroids have orbits bringing them within 46,600 miles of Earth, which is closer than the Moon. Their Minimum Orbital Intersection Distance (MOID) is less than 0.0005 astronomical units, meaning even minor gravitational nudges could send them hurtling toward us.

Detection is nearly impossible under current conditions. The Rubin Observatory in Chile, set to begin operations soon, may only spot these asteroids during brief 2- to 4-week windows when they emerge from the Sun’s glare. By then, evacuation or deflection would be nearly impossible.

What kind of devastation could they unleash?

An impact from any of these asteroids would carve a crater over two miles wide, trigger tsunamis, and ignite firestorms. For perspective, the 1908 Tunguska event — a mere 160-foot asteroid — flattened 800 square miles of Siberian forest. The Venus co-orbitals are up to eight times larger.

NASA’s current detection systems focus on near-Earth objects (NEOs), but Venus’s orbit remains a blind spot. ““Low-e [low eccentricity] Venus co-orbitals pose a unique challenge, because of the difficulties in detecting and following these objects from Earth,” the study admits. The authors argue only a dedicated Venus-orbiting space probe could map these hidden threats.

“While surveys like those from the Rubin Observatory may be able to detect some of these asteroids in the near future, we believe that only a dedicated observational campaign from a space-based mission near Venus could potentially map and discover all the still “invisible” PHA among Venus’ co-orbital asteroids,” they cautioned.

The clock is ticking. The asteroids’ chaotic orbits have a Lyapunov time of just 150 years, which means their paths become unpredictable within a cosmic blink. Simulations suggest gravitational shifts could propel them toward Earth sooner.

While NASA recently ruled out a 2024 YR4 impact in 2032, the agency still tracks it as a lunar threat. A Moon strike, though harmless to Earth, would offer rare data on crater formation. Yet the Venus co-orbitals demand urgent attention.

This study is a reminder that Earth’s safety hinges on vigilance beyond our immediate cosmic neighborhood. While bureaucrats dither and budgets stagnate, unseen dangers loom. The same governments that fund trillion-dollar wars can’t spare pennies to shield civilians from existential threats.

Sources for this article include:

DailyMail.co.uk

ScienceAlert.com

NYPost.com