Detecting asteroids inside the orbit of Venus

Scientists first discovered an asteroid in the orbit of Venus, said the Astronomical Research Center of the International Astronomical Union.

According to the center's document, the 2020 AV2 object was discovered by researchers through the observatory on Mount Palomar in the United States. They observed this object in the constellation Aquarius (Aquarius). According to scientific measurements, this asteroid has a diameter of about 2km.

Its orbit stretches and should be classified as asteroid. The orbit closest to the Sun - called the perihelion - almost reaches Mercury's orbit and the farthest point - aphelion - is located 0.65 astronomical units from the Sun, meaning closer to the Sun. Venus (Venus' orbit is 0.73 astronomical units from the sun).

This asteroid has a diameter of about 2km.

Notably, researchers have previously found asteroids in those regions, but all of them fly much farther away than Venus. Astronomers had previously believed that asteroids could not always be near the Sun due to the heat emanating from it: it was thought that this heat would burn or knock away everything except objects. as big as Mercury and Venus.

However, in March 2019, they discovered that a whole cloud of dust followed Mercury's orbit, further orbiting its entire length. The width of this rotation is 4800km, coinciding with the diameter of Mercury itself.

Also discovered another rotation in the orbit of Venus, but this time it is a giant rotation: a width of 9 million km. Scientists think these clouds arise due to multiple asteroid collisions. The newly discovered asteroid 2020 AV2 is the first confirmation of this hypothesis.

It is worth noting that, in the middle of the nineteenth century, astronomers realized that Mercury's orbit was unstable and somehow shifted. They hypothesize that there is an unknown planet that affects Mercury with its gravity. They 'assumed' to call it Volcano.

However, since then there has been no reliable information about the existence of this planet. In addition, calculations based on Einstein's Theory of Relativity show that the deviation of Mercury's orbit is due to the time-space deviation near the Sun.

We added that observing Venus and Mercury is difficult because of their proximity to the Sun: they seem to 'follow' the Sun in the sky, so they cannot be seen in the sky. at night - they can only be seen after sunset or before dawn.