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Multiple realities
(covers information from several alternate timelines)

Icarus IV was a comet which passed close to the Romulan Neutral Zone in 2266. This comet, with a magnitude of seven, was an ionized mass that left a trail of frozen vapor particles. Information on this comet was recorded in the Table of Comets.

In that year, the commander of an experimental Romulan Bird-of-Prey ordered his cloaked ship into the tail of the comet in an attempt to elude the Federation starship Enterprise, which had been pursuing them. Unfortunately for the Romulans, James Kirk, the Enterprise's commanding officer, anticipated this move, and used the Bird-of-Prey's disturbance of the comet's tail to calculate the Romulan vessel's position, and mount an attack. (TOS: "Balance of Terror"; PIC: "Disengage")

In an alternate timeline, created by Christopher Pike avoiding his injury in 2266, the USS Enterprise under the command of Pike and the USS Farragut under the command of James T. Kirk attempted a similar tactic to expose the Bird-of-Prey, but utilizing a pincer maneuver instead. However, upon clearing the comet, the Bird-of-Prey was not detected, instead appearing behind the Farragut, destroying it. (SNW: "A Quality of Mercy")

In the episode "Disengage", the location of this comet and a depiction of its orbital path was seen on the bridge of the SS Eleos XII on what appears to be an updated chart from Star Trek: Star Charts. Dave Blass published pictures of the set on his website.
According to the Star Trek Encyclopedia (4th ed., vol. 1, p. 355), Icarus IV was "named for the character in Greek mythology that flew too close to the sun, thus melting his wings made of wax."

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