At least three city-killing asteroids that could strike Earth are hiding behind our closest neighbor in the solar system.
A new study warns that Venus is blocking out our view of many near-Earth asteroids - large space rocks that cross or come near Earth's orbit - setting up the potential for a devastating impact.
Researchers from Brazil, France, and Italy found that several asteroids in sync with Venus's orbit are extremely hard to spot because they're often hidden by the Sun's glare.
Three in particular, 2020 SB, 524522, and 2020 CL1, have orbits that take these asteroids dangerously close to Earth.
Even worse, the asteroids don't follow perfectly stable paths, meaning any kind of gravitational change could shift their course and pull them towards Earth.
The three asteroids flying along with Venus measure between 330 and 1,300 feet in diameter, making each one capable of leveling entire cities and setting off massive fires and tsunamis.
The researchers noted that the Rubin Observatory in Chile might be able to spot deadly asteroids approaching from our blind spot near Venus, but the window to see them would be extremely short, possibly lasting only two to four weeks.
If one of these asteroids were to hit a city, it would make a crater over two miles wide and release over one million times more energy than the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan in 1945.
The international team, led by Valerio Carruba of São Paolo University, focused on asteroids that share Venus's orbit around the Sun, called Venus co-orbital asteroids.
'Twenty co-orbital asteroids of Venus are currently known,' the authors wrote in their report to the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.
'Co-orbital status protects these asteroids from close approaches to Venus, but it does not protect them from encountering Earth,' they warned.
Essentially, these asteroids are like dancers moving in step with Venus as they both move around the Sun; staying safely away from it due to their synchronized orbits.
However, their wobbly and unpredictable paths can cross Earth's track, and if they reach that crossing point at the same time as Earth, they could crash into us.
The near-Earth asteroids 2020 SB, 524522, and 2020 CL1 are the most concerning because each has a very small Minimum Orbital Intersection Distance (MOID) - the closest distance between their orbit and Earth's orbit around the Sun.
A smaller MOID means an asteroid's chance of colliding with Earth increases dramatically.
These three asteroids near Venus have MOIDs of less than 0.0005 astronomical units (AU), which is about 46,600 miles - closer than the Moon's average distance from Earth.
6 comments:
Things are getting WILD! Surely we fly soon!
Thank you Scott, for all you do here for those of us who are anxiously awaiting His return! I wish I could remember how long I’ve been a follower of your blog, but I think I found you early on. How long have you been posting on your blog?
Hi and thank you:) --- it's been a while now - since '08. Its funny how much things have changed since then..I could go weeks or even months without anything significant happening. Now if I am out for a day or even a 4-5 hour block, I feel like I've missed a ton of pertinent articles. This actually started after a bible study group wanted to keep up with the news and I had a long email list I would email articles to...After a while I decided it would be easier to communicate to them via a blog and thats how it started. It was really only intended for bible study groups. after a year or so I wondered if anybody was even looking so I checked and saw that there were several thousand coming - I had no idea lol. Ultimately I want to be obedient and assumed this is what God wants me to do, so here we are :)
I also want to thank you for being so faithful Scott. I've been reading your blog almost since you started and pray for your wisdom and safety. This blog has been so encouraging as we see the day approaching and I look forward to meeting all those who long for His appearing.
Kem - I know you have:) and thanks so much for the encouragement it really means a lot -- Don't forget we prophecy watchers will be meeting at the Tree of life just after the Bema rewards :)
Scott, I too have been watching with you , pretty much from the beginning. Don't know if you remember me - Shelleyb. I was the one who wondered if you were up every all night posting. I haven't been able to post, so we'll see if this goes through. Can't wait to meet you and all the rest of the family, at the Tree of Life, Scott. It's been a long haul. Many blessings and many prayers up for you!
Hi there! Of course I remember you Shelley! It really has been a long haul....IMO it's one of the downsides of watching the signs intently over the years. There comes a point (frequently) where you just want it to move into the very last stages (which I believe it is) - and for me, patience isn't something I have at all :) But OTOH we get to see so many fascinating developments - most recently the movements towards the MOTB (digital currency), world government, Ezekiel 38, etc. Thanks so much for the blessings and prayers - they are greatly appreciated - see ya soon :)
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