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Dwarf Planets and Asteroids » 

Asteroid 1566 Icarus

Below the horizon.  Rise: 8:33 | Tran: 12:04 | Set: 15:35
Alt: -55.68°   Az: 52.83°   Direction: North-East

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 in the constellation of Pisces Austrinus, at a distance of 392,268,399.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 21h 30m 46s and the Declination is -25° 43’ 23” (apparent coordinates). The magnitude of Asteroid 1566 Icarus is 20.23 (data provided by JPL Horizons).

Finder Charts

Map showing Asteroid 1566 Icarus in Pisces Austrinus on February, 11 2025. Field of view: 50x30 degrees
View interactive star map
Sky map showing Asteroid 1566 Icarus in Pisces Austrinus on February, 11 2025. Field of view: 15x9 degrees. View in interactive sky chart

High 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.

1566 Icarus
RA: 21h 29m 19s
Dec: -25° 50’ 02”
Deep sky finder chart for Asteroid 1566 Icarus. Field of view: 60x40 arcmins. View in deep sky object tracker

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.

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

21h 30m 46s
-25° 43’ 23”
13h 59m 39s
11h 30m 26s

J2000

21h 29m 19s
-25° 50’ 02”

Additional Information

Pisces Austrinus
20.23

Rise and Set Times

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

Azimuth: 115.7°
Max altitude: 12.9°
Azimuth: 244.4°
  • 1566 Icarus is below the horizon from Greenwich, UK.
  • Given its current magnitude, 1566 Icarus is visible only through long exposure photography.
  • Go to interactive sky chart

If you need to access this information frequently for your observations, you can create a simple customized Quick Access page, so that you can easily bookmark it in your browser favorites or add a shortcut to your mobile phones' home screen.

Distance from Earth

The distance of Asteroid 1566 Icarus from Earth is currently 392,268,399.0 kilometers, equivalent to 2.6221522884 Astronomical Units. Light takes 21m 48.467s to travel from Asteroid 1566 Icarus and arrive to us.

392,268,399.0
2.6221522884
21m 48.467s

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.

Chart of the distance of Asteroid 1566 Icarus from Earth in Astronomical Units (au)

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

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:

Sat Jun 15 1968
6,365,561
0.042551

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

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.

Chart of the magnitude of Asteroid 1566 Icarus as a function of time

Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of Asteroid 1566 Icarus at epoch 24 February 2023 00:00 UTC (JD: 2460000.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.82686949
Orbit inclination i 22.79956293°
Perihelion distance q 0.18665665 AU
27,923,438 km
Aphelion distance Q 1.96959701 AU
294,647,520 km
Semi-major axis a 1.07812683 AU
161,285,479 km
Orbital period period 1.1195 years
408.8869 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp 2023-Mar-05 11:07:50
2,460,008.9638 JD
Next perihelion transit 2024-Apr-17 08:24
2,460,417.8507 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 31.441774561579°
Longitude of the ascending node node 87.951654802505°
Mean anomaly M 352.54816273589°
Mean motion n 0.88043904°/day

Orbit Visualization

Orbit Diagram of Asteroid 1566 Icarus
View Asteroid 1566 Icarus in the 3D Solar System Simulator

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. Apparent celestial coordinates are provided.

Date Right AscensionR.A. DeclinationDec. MagnitudeMag Constellation
2025 Feb 04 21h 15m 21s -26° 40’ 51” 20.28 Capricornus
2025 Feb 05 21h 17m 31s -26° 33’ 04” 20.27 Capricornus
2025 Feb 06 21h 19m 41s -26° 25’ 10” 20.26 Capricornus
2025 Feb 07 21h 21m 50s -26° 17’ 10” 20.25 Capricornus
2025 Feb 08 21h 24m 01s -26° 09’ 04” 20.25 Capricornus
2025 Feb 09 21h 26m 12s -26° 00’ 52” 20.24 Capricornus
2025 Feb 10 21h 28m 23s -25° 52’ 32” 20.23 Capricornus
2025 Feb 11 21h 30m 35s -25° 44’ 07” 20.23 Pisces Austrinus
2025 Feb 12 21h 32m 46s -25° 35’ 34” 20.22 Pisces Austrinus
2025 Feb 13 21h 34m 59s -25° 26’ 55” 20.21 Pisces Austrinus
2025 Feb 14 21h 37m 12s -25° 18’ 09” 20.21 Pisces Austrinus
2025 Feb 15 21h 39m 26s -25° 09’ 16” 20.20 Pisces Austrinus
2025 Feb 16 21h 41m 40s -25° 00’ 17” 20.19 Pisces Austrinus
2025 Feb 17 21h 43m 55s -24° 51’ 10” 20.18 Pisces Austrinus

Additional Resources