[1] Approximately 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) in diameter, it makes many close approaches to Earth, Venus, and Mars at a very high relative velocity.
[8] The multiple planet crossing and retrograde orbit suggests that this object may be an extinct comet or damocloid asteroid similar to 5335 Damocles, 2008 KV42, and 20461 Dioretsa.
Based on a generic magnitude-to-diameter conversion, Marsyas measures approximately 1.7 to 3.5 kilometers in diameter, for an absolute magnitude of 16.2 and an assumed albedo between 0.22 and 0.05.
[5] On 14 May 2021, the object was named by the Working Group for Small Bodies Nomenclature (WGSBN),[3] after Marsyas, a Phrygian satyr from Greek mythology, who dared to challenge Apollo in a musical contest.
As with the mythological account, the unusual retrograde orbit of asteroid Marsyas is opposed to most bodies in the Solar System, including 1862 Apollo.