Daedalus

Key Facts

• Categorized as a Apollo-class Asteroid
• Comparable in size to the island of Manhattan (3.70 km diameter)
• Classified as a Near Earth Asteroid (NEA)
• Not a Potentially Hazardous Object
• See orbit simulation

Overview

Daedalus is a mid-sized asteroid whose orbit crosses the orbit of Earth. NASA JPL has classified Daedalus as a "Near Earth Asteroid" due to its orbit's proximity to Earth, but it is not considered potentially hazardous because computer simulations have not indicated any imminent likelihood of future collision.

Daedalus orbits the sun every 645 days (1.77 years), coming as close as 0.56 AU and reaching as far as 2.36 AU from the sun. Daedalus is about 3.7 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the island of Manhattan.

The rotation of Daedalus has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 8.57 hours.

Daedalus's spectral type SQ (Tholen) / Sr (SMASSII) indicates that it is likely to contain and .

No Close Approaches

Daedalus's orbit is 0.27 AU from Earth's orbit at its closest point. This means that there is a wide berth between this asteroid and Earth at all times.

Orbital simulations conducted by NASA JPL's CNEOS do not show any close approaches to Earth.

Images and Observations

Daedalus's orbit is determined by observations dating back to March 24, 1971. It was last officially observed on April 16, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 4,520 observations used to determine its orbit.

Accessibility and Exploration

This asteroid is not considered a viable target for human exploration by the NHATS study.

Similar Objects

These objects have orbits that share similar characteristics to the orbit of Daedalus:

• 433 Eros (A898 PA)
• 1862 Apollo (1932 HA)
• 6047 (1991 TB1)

References

• JPL Small Body Database
• Mission Design
• Sky Finder Chart

Orbit Simulation

Sky Map

The position of Daedalus is indicated by a ◯ pink circle. Note that the object may not be in your current field of view. Use the controls below to adjust position, location, and time.

Size Rendering

The above comparison is an artistic rendering that uses available data on the diameter of Daedalus to create an approximate landscape rendering with Mount Everest in the background. This approximation is built for full-resolution desktop browsers. Shape, color, and texture of asteroid are imagined.