Issue |
A&A
Volume 699, July 2025
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | A86 | |
Number of page(s) | 10 | |
Section | Planets, planetary systems, and small bodies | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202554320 | |
Published online | 30 June 2025 |
The invisible threat
Assessing the collisional hazard posed by undiscovered Venus co-orbital asteroids
1
São Paulo State University (UNESP), School of Engineering and Sciences,
Guaratinguetá,
SP
12516-410,
Brazil
2
Laboratório Interinstitucional de e-Astronomia,
RJ
20765-000,
Brazil
3
LIRA,
Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, Sorbonne Université, Université Paris Cité, CY Cergy Paris Université, CNRS,
92190 Meudon,
France
4
Dept. of Mathematics and Informatics, Univ. of Palermo,
Palermo
90123,
Italy
5
National Space Research Institute (INPE),
Postgraduate Division, São José dos Campos,
SP
12227-310,
Brazil
6
São Paulo State University (UNESP), School of Engineering,
São João da Boa Vista,
SP
13876-750,
Brazil
★ Corresponding author: valerio.carruba@unesp.br
Received:
28
February
2025
Accepted:
23
May
2025
Context. There are 20 co-orbital asteroids of Venus currently known. Only one of them exhibits an eccentricity below 0.38. This is most likely caused by observational biases since asteroids with higher eccentricities have a higher probability of approaching the Earth and are easier to detect.
Aims. We aim to assess the possible threat that the as-yet-undetected population of Venus co-orbitals might pose to Earth and investigate their detectability from Earth and space observatories.
Methods. We used semi-analytical models of the 1:1 mean-motion resonance with Venus and numerical simulations to monitor close encounters with Earth on several co-orbital cycles. We analyzed the observability windows and brightness variations for potential Venus co-orbitals, as viewed from ground-based telescopes to assess their future detection feasibility with next-generation survey capabilities.
Results. There is a range of orbits with e < 0.38, larger at lower inclinations, for which Venus’co-orbitals can pose a collisional hazard to Earth.
Conclusions. Current ground-based observations are constrained by periodic observing windows and solar elongation limitations; however, the Rubin Observatory might be able to detect some of these objects during favorable configurations. Space missions based on Venus’orbits could be instrumental in detecting Venus’co-orbitals at low eccentricities.
Key words: Earth / minor planets, asteroids: general / planets and satellites: terrestrial planets
© The Authors 2025
Open Access article, published by EDP Sciences, under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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