Overview

• About 20 co-orbital asteroids larger than 140 meters have been identified trailing Venus.
• Observational biases caused by the Sun’s glare and low orbital eccentricities likely hide many more asteroids near Venus.
• Lyapunov times averaging about 150 years illustrate how quickly these asteroid trajectories become unpredictable.
• No known co-orbital asteroid poses an immediate threat, but models indicate potential collision courses could develop over millennia.
• Upcoming Vera Rubin Observatory surveys beginning in late 2025 and proposed space-based missions near Venus are key to detecting these hidden asteroids.