Scientists sound alarm over asteroids that will pass Earth's orbit

This is how experts documented thousands of new asteroids amounting more than the world's telescopes discovered last year.

The alarming asteroids were those 100, which are to pass within the orbit of Earth, according to the publication. Most of the asteroids come from the belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Ed Lu, executive director of the Asteroid Institute told the New York Times that the work represents "a sea change" in how astronomical research can be conducted in the future.

"A comprehensive map of the solar system gives astronomers critical insights both for science and planetary defense," Matthew Holman, dynamicist and search algorithm expert at the Center for Astrophysics at Harvard & Smithsonian in Cambridge, Massachusetts, said in 2022.

The NYT reported that the National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab) houses 412,000 images in its digital archives, some of which depict 1.7 billion dots of light.

With the help of Google Cloud, THOR identified all the overlooked space rocks within about five weeks.

"The work of the Asteroid Institute is critical because astronomers are reaching the limits of what's discoverable with current techniques and telescopes," said THOR co-creator Mario Jurić, a senior data science fellow with the UW eScience Institute.

While none of the asteroids are to collide with the Earth, the newly developed algorithm could assist in spotting harmful asteroids and other threats from space.