Scientists are sounding the alarm after discovering that at least three massive asteroids — hidden in Venus’s orbit — could be hurtling toward Earth in just a matter of weeks. These cosmic threats, if they hit, could release energy a million times greater than the Hiroshima atomic bomb, enough to wipe out entire cities.
An international team of researchers led by Valerio Carruba from São Paulo University revealed this disturbing finding in a recent study published in Astronomy & Astrophysics. The culprits? Asteroids 2020 SB, 524522, and 2020 CL1 — all orbiting the Sun alongside Venus in a pattern known as co-orbital resonance.
While Venus’s orbit might seem far away, these asteroids are anything but harmless. The scientists warn that their orbits are unstable, and even a slight gravitational nudge could send them directly toward Earth.
“We wanted to understand the threat these hidden asteroids pose and why we haven’t seen them coming,” the researchers wrote. Due to their unique orbital paths, these space rocks are nearly invisible to Earth-based telescopes. The Sun’s glare acts like a cosmic cloaking device, hiding them from our most advanced detection systems.
That means NASA and other space agencies might only have two to four weeks of warning if any of these asteroids change course and head toward us — not nearly enough time to prepare a planetary defense mission.
Using simulations spanning 36,000 years, scientists discovered that many so-called “safe” asteroids with low eccentricity — meaning they were believed to stay in stable orbits — could unexpectedly become deadly threats due to small gravitational interactions.
The size of these asteroids is just as frightening as their stealth. Ranging from 330 to 1,300 feet in diameter, they’re large enough to flatten entire cities, trigger tsunamis, and cause catastrophic wildfires. A single impact could leave a crater over two miles wide.
Despite ongoing asteroid tracking efforts from Earth, experts now say our best hope may lie in deploying a space-based observatory closer to Venus. Only a dedicated mission could help locate the rest of the invisible threats lurking in the planet’s orbit.
The researchers conclude with an urgent message: time is running out. Within the next 150 years, the orbits of these asteroids may become completely unpredictable — and humanity may find itself facing an unavoidable disaster.
In the face of this looming cosmic roulette, one thing is clear: we need eyes in the skies now more than ever.
