It relies on a subtle phenomenon called the Yarkovsky effect (named after the Russian engineer who discovered it a century ago).

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One of the chaotic things that happen to the paths taken by asteroids is caused by sunlight, and is known as the Yarkovsky effect.

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To better predict the orbits of hazardous objects, this group is looking at the Yarkovsky effect, a force created when the asteroid absorbs sunlight and re-radiates it as heat.

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This corresponds to a place where the gravitational pulls of Mars and Jupiter have conspired to change the orbits of any asteroids much faster than the Yarkovsky effect could manage alone.

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