Coorbital asteroids are space rocks that orbit around the Sun next to a planet or other large body, but without really orbiting it. Currently 20 coorbital asteroids are known Around Venus, ranging from Trojan asteroids, which are fixed in front of or behind a planet in its orbital plane, to a “quasi -naviga” that narrowly orbitsknown as Zoozve.
All of them probably They originated in the main asteroid belt of the solar systembetween Mars and Jupiter. Dozens of similar coorbital asteroids are also found next to the earth, and are discovered more constantly.
This hidden swarm of Space rocks “Destroyers of cities” could represent an “invisible threat” for the Earth during the next millennia if they are not found, according to new simulations, whose results have been Posted in Arxiv.
According to the authors, led by Valerio Carruba, it is likely that all venusine space rocks have more than 140 meters wide, large enough to be considered “cities destructive”, Which means that they could sweep a densely populated area if they hit our planet.
Although coorbital do not represent a threat to us from afar, an approximation close to Earth could move them away from their gravitational point and, therefore, put them in a collision with our planet. Venus is one of our closest neighbors and is closer to Earth than any other planet (about 40 million kilometers at its closest point), which makes its asteroids a credible threat.
Carruba’s team believes that there are more hidden space rocks around Venus. All known coorbital of the planet, except one, have eccentricities greater than 0.38, which means that they have very elongated trajectories around the planet. This suggests that there is an observational bias, probably because objects with minor eccentricities are probably darkened by the Sun’s glow. Coorbital can also move with respect to Venus, which can modify their probability of colliding with the earth in the future.
To understand the real risk, Carruba’s team made a series of computer simulations with the aim of assessing whether hidden asteroids with minor eccentricities could represent a threat to Earth. The results revealed that some of the coorbital They could represent a threat to the earth … in the next 36,000 years. However, the study offers no indication of the real probability of a future collision, since it is “difficult to predict” how many coorbital really exist.
New observation tools, such as the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile, will improve the ability of scientists to detect dangerous space rocks, including Venus coorbital, in the coming decades. However, “it would also be wise to send a telescope to the orbit of Venus to specifically seek these objects -concludes the study -. We believe that we should not underestimate your potential danger. Soon, our understanding of this population will improve”