Scientists have discovered a "planet killer" asteroid hiding in the glare of the Sun. The 1.5km-wide space rock is the largest potentially hazardous asteroid detected in eight years.
An international team, using the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) mounted on the Víctor M. Blanco four-metre telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, a program of NSF’s NOIRLab, discovered three new near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) hiding in the inner Solar System. This region is notoriously challenging for observations because asteroid hunters have to contend with the light of the sun.
By taking advantage of the brief yet favourable observing conditions during twilight, the astronomers found a trio of NEAs. These NEAs are part of an elusive population that lurks inside the orbits of Earth and Venus.
