Icarus

Icarus
/ik"euhr euhs, uy"keuhr-/, n.
1. Also, Ikaros. Class. Myth. a youth who attempted to escape from Crete with wings of wax and feathers but flew so high that his wings melted from the heat of the sun, and he plunged to his death in the sea.
2. Astron. an asteroid whose eccentric orbit brings it closer to the sun than any other known asteroid.

* * *

      in Greek mythology, son of the inventor Daedalus who perished by flying too near the Sun with waxen wings. See Daedalus.

      asteroid that has a more eccentric orbit and also approaches nearer the Sun (within 30 million km [19 million miles]) than does any other known body in the solar system except comets. It was discovered in 1949 by Walter Baade of the Hale Observatories (now Palomar Observatory), California. Its orbit extends from beyond Mars to within that of Mercury; it can approach within 6.4 million km of the Earth. In June 1968 Icarus, the first asteroid to be examined by radar, proved to have a diameter of about 0.8 km, considerably smaller than previous estimates, and a rotation period of about 2.5 hours.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Icarus — (Greek: Polytonic|Ἴκαρος, Latin: Íkaros , Etruscan: Vicare ) is a character in Greek mythology. He is the son of Daedalus and is commonly known for his attempt to escape Crete by flight, which ended in a fall to his death.Escape from CreteIcarus… …   Wikipedia

  • Icarus — Icarus, Ikarus: Икарус, ныне Икарбус  сербская автобусостроительная, а в прошлом Югославская автобусостроительная и авиастроительная компания Ikarus  автобусостроительная компания, основана в 1895 году в Будапеште, Венгрия. IKARUS… …   Википедия

  • Icarus — [ik′ə rəs; ] occas. [ ī′kərəs] n. [L < Gr Ikaros] Gr. Myth. the son of Daedalus; escaping from Crete by flying with wings made by Daedalus, Icarus flies so high that the sun s heat melts the wax by which his wings are fastened, and he falls to …   English World dictionary

  • Icărus — Icărus, Art der Schmetterlingsgattung Castnia …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Icarus — Icarus,   von W. Baade 1949 entdeckter Planetoid (Apollo Objekte), dessen Bahn von allen bekannten kosmischen Objekten am dichtesten an die Sonne heranführt (28 Mio. km). Der Durchmesser beträgt nur etwa 1 100 m …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Icarus — son of Daedalus in Greek mythology; he flew too high on artificial wings and so plunged to his death. Used allusively from 1580s. The name is of unknown origin …   Etymology dictionary

  • Icarus — Cette page d’homonymie répertorie les différents sujets et articles partageant un même nom. Icarus (Icare en anglais) peut faire référence à : Icarus (1960), le premier court métrage de Brian De Palma, Icarus (2010), téléfilm de Dolph… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • ICARUS — I. ICARUS Asiae fluv. in Oxum, Sogdianorum fluv. influens. Solin. Et ins. iuxta mare Rubrum. Steph. Et mons Attiacae, Plin. l. 6. c. 17. II. ICARUS Daedali fil. qui una cum patre e Creta fugiens, fretus alarum fiduciâ, quum ultra patris iussa… …   Hofmann J. Lexicon universale

  • Icarus — Asteroid (1566) Icarus Eigenschaften des Orbits (Simulation) Orbittyp Apollo Typ Große Halbachse 1,0779  …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Icarus — Ic|a|rus in ancient Greek stories, the son of the inventor ↑Daedalus, who made wings fastened together with ↑wax for himself and Icarus so that they could escape from the island of ↑Crete by flying. But Icarus flew too close to the sun, so that… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”