Scientists have found three strange asteroids that orbit relatively close to the sun – one is the closest to the sun we’ve ever found, and another may someday hit Earth
Artist’s impression of an asteroid near the sun
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Astronomers have found the closest asteroid to the sun ever seen, a relatively large rock that gets within 20 million kilometres of it – about 13 per cent the distance between the sun and Earth. They have also spotted two other strange asteroids as part of a hunt for the rare rocks that orbit closer to the sun than Earth.
These asteroids are hard to find because in order to look for them, astronomers have to point telescopes towards the sun. That means there’s …