Reading: ‘Invisible’ asteroids could hit Earth with the power to wipe out large cities

‘Invisible’ asteroids could hit Earth with the power to wipe out large cities

Last updated: 2025/10/02 at 3:43 PM

News Room Published 2 October 2025

Space is full of things that could threaten life on Earth, but the most dangerous ones are often the ones we cannot see. We know from history that asteroids slamming into the Earth is something that could lead to a mass extinction. Now, astronomers have said there may be asteroids hiding near Venus which are ‘invisible’ to us but large enough to cause city-level destruction if they take aim at Earth (Picture: Getty Images)

A new international study by researchers at São Paulo State University (UNESP) in Brazil identified the little-known threats that lies in Venus’s orbit, and revealed they may have evaded detection because of their position in the night sky. The researchers say that although they have not yet been observed, they could strike Earth within a few thousand years – with their impact capable of devastating large cities (Picture: Getty Images)

First author of the study Dr Valerio Carruba said: ‘Our study shows that there’s a population of potentially dangerous asteroids that we can’t detect with current telescopes. These objects orbit the Sun, but aren’t part of the Asteroid Belt, located between Mars and Jupiter. Instead, they’re much closer, in resonance with Venus. But they’re so difficult to observe that they remain invisible, even though they may pose a real risk of collision with our planet in the distant future’ (Picture: Getty Images)

The study, which was published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, saw the team combining analytical modelling with long-term numerical simulations to track the objects and their potential to come dangerously close to Earth. They are known to be highly eccentric and unstable – but what are they? (Picture: Getty Images)

Known as ‘Venusian co-orbital asteroids’, these objects circle the Sun rather than Venus, but share the same orbital region and similar periods, much like Earth and its quasi-moons. The researchers say: ‘These objects enter into 1:1 resonance with Venus, which means that they complete one revolution around the Sun in the same time as the planet.’ But unlike Jupiter’s Trojans, which are more stable the Venusian co-orbital asteroids, they have cycles that last around 12,000 years (Picture: Getty Images)

The transitions in cycles mean that the same object can be in a safe configuration close to Venus one moment and pass close to Earth at another. Dr Carruba says: ‘During these transition phases, the asteroids can reach extremely small distances from Earth’s orbit, potentially crossing it. At the moment, astronomers have cataloged around 20 of these bodies, but computer models suggest that there could be hundreds more. Most of these are chaotic in nature and could hit the Earth (Picture: Getty)

Dr Carruba said: ‘Asteroids about 300 meters in diameter, which could form craters 3 to 4.5 kilometers wide and release energy equivalent to hundreds of megatons, may be hidden in this population. An impact in a densely populated area would cause large-scale devastation.’ So what can we do? Observations are hard to make, even with the new Vera Rubin Observatory (LSST), as simulations say that even the brightest asteroids would only be visible for one to two weeks if they were above 20 degrees on the horizon. Another option is to use space telescopes focused on regions close to the Sun (Picture: Getty)

But Dr Carruba says that: ‘Planetary defense needs to consider not only what we can see, but also what we can’t yet see.’ The Venusian co-orbital asteroids are thought to have originated in the Main Belt. Due to complex gravitational interactions, primarily with Jupiter and Saturn, they were gradually diverted to internal orbits. There, they were temporarily captured in resonance with Venus (Picture: Getty)

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