Overview

• A University of São Paulo study has confirmed at least 20 asteroids sharing Venus’s orbit that simulations show can intersect Earth’s path.
• Objects with orbital eccentricities below 0.38 and Lyapunov times near 150 years exhibit chaotic behavior that makes long-term tracking unreliable.
• Proximity to the Sun severely limits viewing windows for ground-based telescopes, leaving many co-orbitals undetected.
• The Vera Rubin Observatory’s full operations beginning July 2025 may reveal additional targets but will still face glare and timing constraints.
• Researchers argue that only a dedicated space-based mission near Venus can fully map and monitor these potentially hazardous asteroids.