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Orbiting the Sun at an average distance of 0.59 au and with the shortestaphelion of any known minor body, at 0.77 au, the Atira-class asteroid 2019 AQ3may be an orbital outlier or perhaps an early indication of the presence of anew population of objects: those following orbits entirely encompassed withinthat of Venus, the so-called Vatiras. Here, we explore the orbital evolution of2019 AQ3 within the context of the known Atiras to show that, like many ofthem, it displays a present-day conspicuous coupled oscillation of the valuesof eccentricity and inclination, but no libration of the value of the argumentof perihelion with respect to the invariable plane of the Solar system. Theobserved dynamics is consistent with being the result of the combined action oftwo dominant perturbers, the Earth-Moon system and Jupiter, and a secondaryone, Venus. Such a multiperturber-induced secular dynamics translates into achaotic evolution that can eventually lead to a resonant behaviour of theLidov-Kozai type. Asteroid 2019 AQ3 may have experienced brief stints as aVatira in the relatively recent past and it may become a true Vatira in thefuture, outlining possible dynamical pathways that may transform Atiras intoVatiras and vice versa. Our results strongly suggest that 2019 AQ3 is only thetip of the iceberg: a likely numerous population of similar bodies may remainhidden in plain sight, permanently confined inside the Sun's glare.

Understanding the evolution of Atira-class asteroid 2019 AQ3, a major step towards the future discovery of the Vatira population