In the brightest part of the sky, right where the Sun floods everything, an elusive visitor has appeared: a "ghost" asteroid which moves between Mercury and Venus and which until now had gone unnoticed due to the intensity of sunlight.
Far from a science fiction plot, this object was rigorously identified: On September 27, it was sighted by Scott S. Sheppard's team (Carnegie Science) using the Dark Energy Camera at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, a perfect environment for hunting bodies hiding in the twilight.
An inside runner at full speed
Despite the elusiveness of the environment, its basic character has been traced: Its orbit keeps it very close to the Sun, crossing that of Mercury and entering that of Venus., a region where heat and glare make any observation extremely difficult.
Initial calculations suggest that it is of a considerable size, about 700 meters in diameter, comparable to a large terrestrial infrastructure and sufficient to arouse scientific interest in its thermal and physical evolution.
Furthermore, completes one revolution around the Sun in about 128 days, making it the second-fastest asteroid on record; only one other similar object, recorded by the same group in 2021, surpasses it with a period of 113 days.
How the invisible was seen
The key to the discovery was to observe in the few useful windows of the day: the moments of sunrise and sunset, when the sunlight drops just enough so that these rocks are not buried in the light.
In that context, the Dark Energy Camera (DECam), originally designed for cosmology, has demonstrated extraordinary sensitivity in tracking small bodies in areas close to the Sun, supported by telescopes such as the 4 meter White and Gemini to verify detection.
This type of search requires very specific techniques: short exposures, fast tracking, and careful glare filtering, a fine work that explains why these objects so often escape from catalogues.
Risk to Earth and planetary surveillance
There is no reason to be alarmed for now: The "ghost" orbit remains confined to the inner environment and does not intersect with our planet in the short term, so it does not pose a known threat.
However, their detection is a reminder of an uncomfortable reality: asteroids close to the Sun are the most difficult to find and may represent a relevant fraction of potentially dangerous objects if their dynamics were to change due to gravitational effects or impacts.
The international community maintains vigilance with multiple programs, and coordination between observatory networks —including European ones— is essential for mapping these bodies that spend months hidden behind the sun's glare.
A region less empty than previously thought
For decades it was assumed that between Mercury and Venus there would hardly be residual materialThis discovery challenges that idea and suggests that there may be a population of inner asteroids yet to be discovered.
If confirmed, the dynamics of the inner solar system may need adjustments: orbital resonances, fragments of ancient collisions, or primitive remnants could explain the presence of these rocks in such an extreme environment.
Reuse instruments, expand borders
The case illustrates a valuable lesson: look at existing tools with different eyes Sometimes it's more productive than building from scratch. DECam, designed to study dark energy, has become a key element in locating smaller objects under extreme observation conditions.
This flexible approach has already yielded results in other fields, and provides agility to research when new questions arise without the need to immediately deploy new infrastructures.
What's next?
Efforts are focused on better define its size, composition and orbital parameters, and to check whether it shares a strip with other bodies not yet catalogued in that same interior region.
New campaigns are also expected at dawn and dusk for expand the census of objects close to the Sun, a task that could redefine the map of minor bodies and improve long-term risk models.
Beyond the brilliance and technical difficulties, This inner "ghost" reminds us that there are still corners to explore. in our cosmic neighborhood: second fastest, with no immediate risk to Earth, and with a history that can help us understand how the architecture of the solar system is organized.