Icarus asteroid to sail past Earth in closest approach for 75 years

The asteroid Icarus will breeze past Earth on Tuesday at a “distant pass” of five million miles.

It will be the asteroid's last fly-by until the year 2090, according to Russia Today.

Although Icarus is named after a Greek mythological character that flew too close to the sun, it's actually flying closer to Earth this time around.

But there's no need to worry, according to NASA, because the “distant pass” will still be taking place quite far away – at 21 lunar distances.

“Asteroid Icarus will safely pass by Earth at more than 21 times the distance of Earth to the moon on June 16,” NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said.

Icarus is expected to skim past Earth at 10 pm GMT.

The Slooh community observatory will provide a live stream of the asteroid's approach, using robotic telescopes and cameras. However, the space rock will be too dim to be seen through most backyard telescopes, the observatory said on its website.