“So far we have found two large near-Earth asteroids that are about 1 kilometer across, a size that we call planet killers.”Scientists determined that the asteroid crosses Earth’s orbit, but it occurs when Earth is on the opposite side of the sun – this pattern will continue for centuries since it takes the asteroid five years to complete an orbit around the sun.And in order to search the inner solar system, their telescopes must focus near the horizon, which means they have to peer through Earth’s thick atmosphere and its blurring effects.If things sound complicated for ground-based telescopes, observations of the inner solar system are impossible for space-based telescopes like Hubble and James Webb because the sun’s heat and intense light could fry their instruments, which is why both space observatories are pointed away from the star.“DECam can cover large areas of sky to depths not achievable on smaller telescopes, allowing us to go deeper, cover more sky, and probe the inner Solar System in ways never done before.”Near-Earth objects are asteroids and comets with an orbit that places them within 48.3 million kilometers (30 million miles) from Earth.Instruments like the Dark Energy Camera, as well as future space-based observatories like the Near Earth Object Surveyor, can pinpoint previously unknown asteroids."