{"id":251175,"date":"2025-10-25T18:10:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T18:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/251175\/"},"modified":"2025-10-25T18:10:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T18:10:09","slug":"astronomers-just-found-a-sneaky-asteroid-near-the-sun-and-it-highlights-a-dangerous-blind-spot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/251175\/","title":{"rendered":"Astronomers Just Found a Sneaky Asteroid Near the Sun\u2014and It Highlights a Dangerous Blind Spot"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Millions of asteroids are currently zipping through our solar system. These rocky remnants of the early solar system receive extra attention when their itinerary brings them too close to Earth\u2014which, fortunately, <a href=\"https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/an-asteroid-could-smash-into-the-moon-in-2032-heres-why-we-should-destroy-it-2000661550\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">astronomers can usually track in advance<\/a>. But what happens if they can\u2019t?<\/p>\n<p>This could easily be the case for so-called \u201ctwilight\u201d asteroids, whose position behind the glare of the Sun makes it tricky for astronomers to detect and track. If that wasn\u2019t unsettling enough, the latest twilight asteroid\u20142025 SC79\u2014is also the second-fastest asteroid ever identified, with an orbit of just 128 days around the Sun, according to a Carnegie Science <a href=\"https:\/\/carnegiescience.edu\/news\/fast-moving-asteroid-found-suns-glare\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">release<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p> Hiding in plain sight? <\/p>\n<p>Scott Sheppard, an astronomer with Carnegie Science, first observed 2025 SC79 with the Blanco 4-meter Telescope\u2019s Dark Energy Camera in September. Follow-up observations by the Gemini and Magellan telescopes confirmed the sighting of the asteroid.<\/p>\n<p>2025 SC79 is estimated to measure around 2,300 feet (700 meters) in diameter\u2014almost <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Empire_State_Building#:~:text=The%20building%20was%20designed%20by,m)%20tall%20including%20its%20antenna.\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">twice the height<\/a> of the Empire State Building. The asteroid\u2019s size, as well as its fast orbit around the Sun, qualifies it as a \u201cplanet killer\u201d asteroid, which Sheppard had been searching for.<\/p>\n<p> A blind threat <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe most dangerous asteroids are the most difficult to detect,\u201d Sheppard said in the release. Most asteroids enter telescopes\u2019 detection range in the dark of night, he explained. Asteroids lurking near the Sun, on the other hand, are only visible at twilight.<\/p>\n<p>This poses unique challenges for astronomers like Sheppard, who are on the lookout for potential threats. Given the importance of <a href=\"https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/an-asteroid-has-a-1-in-63-chance-of-hitting-earth-in-2032-heres-what-that-means-2000557112\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">preemptive research<\/a> for asteroid flybys, twilight asteroids could \u201cpose serious impact hazards\u201d if they approach Earth, Sheppard warned.<\/p>\n<p>To be fair, there isn\u2019t much we can do about the natural positioning of extraterrestrial objects. Still, Sheppard hopes that further screening of this twilight asteroid may uncover useful information about its composition and whether it could hold any clues for spotting similar objects in the future.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMany of the Solar System\u2019s asteroids inhabit one of two belts of space rocks, but perturbations can send objects careening into closer orbits where they can be more challenging to spot,\u201d Sheppard said. \u201cUnderstanding how they arrived at these locations can help us protect our planet and also help us learn more about Solar System history.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Millions of asteroids are currently zipping through our solar system. These rocky remnants of the early solar system&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251176,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[6949,51725,2051,79,193],"class_list":{"0":"post-251175","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-asteroids","9":"tag-planetary-defense","10":"tag-potentially-hazardous-asteroids","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-space"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251175\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}