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Two US astronomers, Dan Durda and Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute, U.S.A, have been searching for asteroids close to the Sun at 49,000 ft using an F-18 aircraft, reports BBC Online. Scientists have long thought that asteroids, known as Vulcanoids, should exist close to the Sun within the orbit of the planet Mercury since, like the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, they should be relatively undisturbed in this region. Finding asteroids close to the Sun, however, is very difficult since only during solar eclipses is the daytime sky dark enough for these objects to be observed. Durda and Stern have been using a camera mounted in the cockpit of an F-18 to search the horizon during twilight to find Vulcanoids close to the Sun. At high altitude the glow produced by dust and moisture in the atmosphere is greatly reduced and the sky should be dark and clear enough to allow Vulcanoids to be discovered once the images have been analysed.
If Vulcanoid asteroids do exist scientists believe that they will reveal the nature of matter formed close to the Sun 4.5 billion years ago since asteroids are the debris left-overs from the formation of our Solar System. Because they formed so close to the early Sun the Vulcanoids are expected to be very different to asteroids in the main asteroid belt which change from dry, melted asteroids in the innermost belt to water- and carbon-rich, unmelted asteroids in the outer belt towards Jupiter. Vulcanoids potentially could answer many outstanding questions on exactly how our Solar System formed.
As asteroids within the orbit of Mercury, Vulcanoids have paths that are far from that of the Earth and thus, if they exist, they would not collide with our planet. Near Earth Asteroids, such as 2002MN that recently came within the orbit of the Moon, can approach the Earth from the direction of the Sun. Such asteroids, however, are not from close to the Sun but were originally main belt asteroids that were disturbed by Jupiter.
More info: BBC Online Article
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