Astronomers have discovered the second-fastest asteroid in the Solar System, hiding in the Sun's glare, UNN reports with reference to Space.com.
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The recently discovered cosmic object almost broke the speed record.
The asteroid, named 2025 SC79, has a trajectory inside Venus's orbit, circling the Sun in just 128 days, making it the second-fastest unique asteroid in the Solar System, according to a statement from Carnegie Science. 2025 SC79 is also a fairly large asteroid: it is about 700 meters long, which is roughly the length of a skyscraper.
Astronomer Scott Sheppard of Carnegie University, a renowned discoverer of Jupiter's, Saturn's, Uranus's, and Neptune's small moons, spotted the asteroid hiding in the sunlight on September 27. Although 2025 SC79 will not approach Earth in the near future, detecting hidden asteroids is crucial for protecting our planet, Sheppard emphasized in his statement.
The most dangerous asteroids are the hardest to detect. Most asteroid researchers find these objects in the dark of night, when they are easiest to spot. But asteroids hiding near the Sun can only be observed at dusk before sunrise or sunset. If these "twilight" asteroids approach Earth, they could pose a serious collision hazard.
Sheppard and his team previously also discovered the fastest known asteroid, 2021 PH27, which orbits the Sun in just 113 days – less than a third of an Earth year. His research on twilight asteroids, particularly with financial support from NASA, uses the Dark Energy Camera on the National Science Foundation's (NSF) 4-meter Victor M. Blanco Telescope in Chile.
Further observations of 2025 SC79 will require several months, as it is currently behind the Sun from Earth's perspective. "Future studies of this object will reveal details about its composition, how it withstands intense heating near the Sun, and its possible origin," Carnegie University representatives said.