Scientists believe that asteroids Lurking between the Earth and the sun but hidden by the glare of our star may help shed light on the history of the solar system, astronomer Scott Sheppard of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington says discoveries of near-Earth objects (NEOs) have begun, because telescopes tend to look away from our planet so you can avoid the sun’s glare, and new surveys reveal never-before-seen asteroids.
According to the British newspaper, “Daily Mail”, Sheppard and other experts say that finding and tracking these space rocks could be vital to help improve our understanding of planet formation and the history of the solar system.
“New telescopic surveys challenge the glare of the sun and search for asteroids towards the sun,” Sheppard wrote in the latest scientific journal.
These surveys have found many previously undiscovered asteroids inside Earth, and the discoveries include the first asteroid with an inner orbit of Venus called ‘Ayló’chaxnim 2020 AV2, and the asteroid that currently has the shortest known orbital period around the Sun, which is called 2021 PH27.
Modeling speculated that these space rocks should exist, but now telescopes are already beginning to confirm their existence.
Also among the observatories are the Zwicky Transient Facility Camera in California and the National Science Foundation’s Blanco 4-meter telescope in Chile.
According to NASA, there are more than 26,000 asteroids near Earth, although only about 10,000 of them are larger than 450 feet (140 meters) in size.
The NEO Surveyor of the US Space Agency is also scheduled to be launched in 2026, to help discover more of these asteroids, as it will be placed between the Earth and the sun to better identify space rocks that cannot be seen at the present time due to their locations in space.