Asteroid 1566 Icarus

Asteroid 1566 Icarus is a near-Earth asteroid discovered on June 27, 1949, by Walter Baade, an astronomer at the Palomar Observatory in California. The asteroid is named after the mythological figure Icarus, who flew too close to the sun and fell into the sea. With a diameter of approximately 1.4 kilometers, Icarus is one of the largest and best-studied near-Earth asteroids. It has a highly eccentric orbit, with a closest approach to the Sun of just 0.19 astronomical units (AU) and a farthest distance of 1.97 AU. Icarus is also notable for its frequent close approaches to Earth, with the asteroid passing within 0.042 AU (6.3 million kilometers) of our planet in 1968 and again in 2015.

Asteroid 1566 Icarus is currently in the constellation of Sagittarius.

The current Right Ascension of Asteroid 1566 Icarus is 19h 35m 18s and the Declination is -32° 43’ 20” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt). The current magnitude of Asteroid 1566 Icarus is 20.71 (JPL).

Today's rise, transit and set times of Asteroid 1566 Icarus from Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

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Available Resources

• Position and finder charts (see also Where is Asteroid 1566 Icarus?)
• Distance from Earth (see also How far is Asteroid 1566 Icarus from Earth?)
• When does Asteroid 1566 Icarus rise and set?
• Brightness (see also How bright is Asteroid 1566 Icarus?)
• Orbital elements. Detailed information about Asteroid 1566 Icarus orbital parameters.
• Interactive orbit visualization. 3d visualization showing the orbit of Asteroid 1566 Icarus with respect to the major Solar System objects.
• 15 days ephemerides. Table showing celestial coordinates and magnitude of Asteroid 1566 Icarus for the past and next 7 days.
• Interactive sky chart. An online planetarium application that shows where to locate Asteroid 1566 Icarus in the sky from your location.
• Live position tracker. A high precision sky chart that uses real deep sky imagery to help locate Asteroid 1566 Icarus with your telescope or on your astrophotographies.

Higher precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Asteroid 1566 Icarus is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

Also check out Where is Asteroid 1566 Icarus?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Asteroid 1566 Icarus in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Asteroid 1566 Icarus Distance from Earth

The distance of Asteroid 1566 Icarus from Earth is currently 374,110,945 kilometers, equivalent to 2.500777 Astronomical Units. Light takes 20 minutes and 47.8998 seconds to travel from Asteroid 1566 Icarus and arrive to us.

The following chart shows the distance of Asteroid 1566 Icarus from Earth as a function of time. In the chart the distance data is measured in Astronomical Units and sampled with an interval of 1 day.

The value of the reported distance might be somewhat inaccurate around the times of closest approach for objects passing extremely close to Earth. The value of the distance of 1566 Icarus from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest Approach of Asteroid 1566 Icarus to Earth

Between 1 January 1900 and 31 December 2099, the closest approach of Asteroid 1566 Icarus to Earth happens on Sat Jun 15 1968 at a distance of 0.042551 Astronomical Units, or 6,365,561 kilometers:

NOTE: values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.

Asteroid 1566 Icarus Brightness and Light Curve

The following chart is the predicted light curve (visual magnitude as a function of time) of Asteroid 1566 Icarus, according to the most recent ephemerides data. Magnitude data is sampled with a 2 days interval and there might be inaccuracies for objects changing brightness very rapidly during the course of a few days. For comets there could be large discrepancies between the observed and predicted brightness because of their highly dynamic behaviour.

Visualization of Asteroid 1566 Icarus Orbit

This 3d orbit diagram is a feature of our 3D Solar System Simulator and shows the orbit of Asteroid 1566 Icarus with respect of the Sun and the orbits of the major planets. The position of Asteroid 1566 Icarus and the planets along their orbits in this diagram accurately represents the current configuration of the objects in the Solar System. This is an experimental feature and it requires a WebGL enabled browser. Please provide us feedback!

Asteroid 1566 Icarus 15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Asteroid 1566 Icarus computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate Asteroid 1566 Icarus in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.

Date	Right AscensionR.A.	DeclinationDec.	MagnitudeMag	Constellation
2023 Dec 02	19h 21m 51s	-33° 12’ 56”	20.78	Sagittarius
2023 Dec 03	19h 23m 44s	-33° 08’ 58”	20.77	Sagittarius
2023 Dec 04	19h 25m 37s	-33° 04’ 57”	20.76	Sagittarius
2023 Dec 05	19h 27m 30s	-33° 00’ 50”	20.75	Sagittarius
2023 Dec 06	19h 29m 25s	-32° 56’ 39”	20.74	Sagittarius
2023 Dec 07	19h 31m 18s	-32° 52’ 23”	20.73	Sagittarius
2023 Dec 08	19h 33m 14s	-32° 48’ 03”	20.72	Sagittarius
2023 Dec 09	19h 35m 09s	-32° 43’ 38”	20.71	Sagittarius
2023 Dec 10	19h 37m 05s	-32° 39’ 10”	20.70	Sagittarius
2023 Dec 11	19h 39m 02s	-32° 34’ 36”	20.69	Sagittarius
2023 Dec 12	19h 40m 59s	-32° 29’ 57”	20.68	Sagittarius
2023 Dec 13	19h 42m 56s	-32° 25’ 13”	20.67	Sagittarius
2023 Dec 14	19h 44m 53s	-32° 20’ 25”	20.65	Sagittarius
2023 Dec 15	19h 46m 53s	-32° 15’ 30”	20.64	Sagittarius