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The Common Blue (Ployommatus icarus) is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae found in the Palaearctic region in lowlands and highlands to an altitude of 2000 metres. Two or three overlapping generations occur during a year depending upon climatic conditions.
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In Greek mythology, Daedalus was an Athenian artisan whose skill rivalled that of Hephaestus. He was ordered by King Minos to construct a vast underground palace linked by a labyrinth of rooms into which Minos imprisoned his wife Pasiphae and her monstrous child the Minotaur. Daedalus fled from Crete because he knew the secret of the labyrinth and didn't trust Minos not to kill him. He fled with his son Icarus using wings made by them from feathers fastened with wax, Daedalus warning his son not to fly to close to the sun less the heat melted the wax. Icarus ignored his father's advice, the wax melted and he fell to his death. Daedalus however escaped to Sicily or mainland Italy, depending upon accounts.
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Icarus was the son Daedalus. They went to Crete and were prevented from leaving by ship by king Minos. They escaped from the Minos labyrinth by means of wings made by his father Daedalus of feathers stitched to ribs of willow and the feathers held together by wax. In escaping Icarus showed off and flew too close to the sun, the wax holding the feathers to the wings melted and
Icarus fell into the sea and was drowned.
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Icarus is an Apollo asteroid 1.5 km in diameter, discovered 1949. It orbits the Sun every 409 days at a distance of between 28 and 300 million km. It was the first asteroid discovered to approach closer to the Sun than the planet Mercury does. In 1968 it passed 6 million km away from the Earth.
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HMS Icarus was a British Intrepid Class destroyer of 1370 tons displacement launched in 1936. She was armed with four 4.7-inch guns; six smaller guns and ten 21-inch torpedo tubes. She was powered by three Admiralty 3-drum type boilers providing a top speed of 36 knots and carried a complement of 145.
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The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
©1993 - 2009 The Probert Encyclopaedia
Southampton, United Kingdom
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