[image: 6019.jpg.webp]
*Oedipus Rex*
Even people who care little about classical mythology have likely heard the
name "Oedipus."  We can attribute his enduring fame largely to Sigmund
Freud who unnerved the entire male populace with the psychoanalytic theory
the "Oedipus Complex," also known as the "Oedipus Conflict."  We'll
cheerfully avoid any explanation of this disquieting concept and proceed
immediately to the disturbing tale involving this most tragic of
mythological figures.    Laius, king of Thebes, was married to Jocasta, a
distant relation.   Theirs was a happy, though not particularly fruitful,
marriage.   It was only after the passage of many years that Jocasta
finally gave birth to their first child.    Their son's arrival engendered
morbid fear in his father for he had heard a Delphic oracle warning him
that his son would eventually kill him and marry Jocasta.    Hoping to
confound the prophecy, Laius  punctured the baby's foot with a nail and
ordered a servant to expose him on a mountainside.   It was in this manner
that parents dispatched an unwanted child while not actually committing
outright murder.   A shepherd found the exposed baby soon after its
abandonment and brought him to Corinth.   He presented the baby to Polybus,
the Corinthian King.   This king, who was childless, decided to raise the
infant, himself.   He named the child "Oedipus," meaning "swollen foot."
Polybus, his wife  Merope -not the Pleiad Merope-and Oedipus lived happily
and prosperously.  Oedipus deeply loved the two people he presumed to have
been his parents.   Neither Polybus nor Merope had ever told Oedipus of his
adoption.  One day at a banquet a drunken Corinthian noble taunted Oedipus,
then a young adult, about his appearance.  "You look nothing like King
Polybus," he sneered.  "Nor your mother, neither!"  Oedipus responded to
this teasing with his fists, hurting his tormentor grievously. Oedipus was
both quick tempered and preternaturally strong.   Insults that articulate
one's own thoughts often prove to be the most effective.   Oedipus had long
been troubled by the lack of resemblance between him and Polybus.  After
this scuffle, he traveled to Delphi to ask the Sibyl about his parentage.
  As soon as he arrived, the Sibyl spat at him.  "Be gone!    You shall
kill your father and marry your mother!  You befoul the very air about
you!  Be gone!"      Horrified, Oedpius ran from Delphi and resolved to
leave Corinth immediately and never return.   As he walked from Delphi
toward a nearby kingdom of Thebes, he encountered King Laius and four
attendants in a chariot at a location where three roads converged.   "Out
of the way!" Laius commanded him.  "We are on a pilgrimage to Delphi and
will not be impeded by crippled vagabonds!"    (Due to the foot puncture,
Oedipus limped and always used a walking stick.)   Oedipus angrily
suggested that they move their chariot to make way for him.  At this Laius
struck him with a rod while the chariot drove past.  Oedpius responded by
killing the king with a single blow.  He then rapidly dispatched three of
the other attendants.  One fled before Oedipus had the chance to kill him.
  Soon thereafter Oedipus came upon Thebes, but found the gates to have
been shut.  While trying to find another entrance, he encountered a hideous
creature with a woman's face and a lion's body.  It was the Sphinx that had
been plaguing Thebes for many weeks.  She would ask every person she met
the same riddle:  "What goes on four feet in the morning, two feet at noon,
three in the evening and is strongest when on the fewest number of feet?"
   Nobody had yet solved the riddle and so as a punishment she devoured all
those she asked.    Crouching menacingly above him, the Sphinx asked
Oedipus the riddle.     "Simple," he said.  "The answer is 'Man.'   He
crawls on all fours as an infant, walks upright as a young adult and
requires a cane in old age."   Having always needed a walking stick,
Oedipus was keenly aware of his own impediment and so quickly realized the
meaning of "three legs."   Distraught, the Sphinx committed suicide by
hurling herself off a nearby cliff.    A sentry observed the encounter and
watched as the Sphinx plummeted to her death.    He opened the gate and
welcomed Oedpius gladly.     The sentry then summoned Creon, the queen's
brother, who was behaving as regent during his brother's absence.   "You
have saved Thebes from the terror," Creon said.   "We have just learned
that our king Laius and his entourage have been slain by robbers.   As a
reward for your service, you shall be offered the kingship and his widow
Jocasta's hand in marriage."      Oedpius accepted both eagerly for he had
been homeless and deprived of any means.    Over the next two decades,
Oedipus and his queen Jocasta ruled Thebes well and wisely.  They produced
four children:  Antigone, Ismene, Eteocles and Polynices.   Suddenly and
inexplicably,  a plague laid siege to Thebes.   Citizens were dying in the
streets.   The food supply was halted, causing widespread hunger and
misery.    Creon traveled to Delphi to learn how they could stop the
plague.    It was the first time anyone from Thebes had gone to consult the
oracle since Laius left twenty years before to seek guidance on how to
contend with the Sphinx.   When Creon returned he simply said, "To stop the
plague we must banish Laius' murderer."  Relieved, Oedipus announced that
nobody in Thebes was permitted to provide shelter or any other protection
to the previous king's killer on pain of death.  Oedipus announced that he
would spare no effort to identify Laius' murderer and expel him at once.
Matters worsened for Oedpius, however, when he called forth the prophet
Tiresias for guidance on how to find the murderer after the passage of so
many years.   Tiresias protested that he did not want to speak and
preferred to return home.  Thinking that Tiresias was protecting the
culprit, Oedipus commanded Tiresias to reveal what he knew or face severe
punishment.    Tiresias then replied, "You are the murderer you seek!"
 Oedipus furiously sent Tiresias away and then told his wife Jocasta what
the "blind old fool" had said.  "Prophets and oracles are worthless," she
said scornfully.  "My husband Laius was supposed to have been murdered by
my son.   However, he was killed by robbers as he traveled to Delphi.  Our
one son had been exposed at birth and died."   Nervously Oedipus asked
about Laius' death.  "When and where did it occur?"    Jocasta said, "at
the place where the three roads converge just outside of Thebes.    He was
killed soon before you arrived to save us from the Sphinx."     Jocasta
further explained that only one of the king's entourage had survived and
was living in a remote village.  Now alarmed, Oedipus and Jocasta commanded
him to be brought forth.    When questioned, the man nervously identified
Oedipus as Laius' killer.  Then an old  Corinthian shepherd came forth and
explained that he had saved Jocasta's infant from a mountainside and
presented him to his king Polybus, who had raised him as though the baby
were his own.     The horrible truth now revealed, Jocasta ran into the
palace and hanged herself.    Oedpius punctured his own eyes with a dagger
and was expelled from Thebes in the company of his dutiful daughter/sister
Antigone.   Though miserable and widely reviled, Oedipus eventually found
refuge outside of Athens where he was warmly welcomed by Theseus (yes, that
Theseus).   Even though in later life Oedpius was impoverished and hated,
he at least died comforted and at peace.


THE SOUTHWORTH PLANETARIUM
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Julian Date: 245969.16
2019-2020:  CXXXVII

THE DAILY ASTRONOMER
Thursday, April 30, 2020
Remote Planetarium 24:   Amazing Moons

The early 17th century was a dark time for those who insisted that all the
other solar system bodies revolved around Earth.    First, Johannes Kepler
provided a mathematical framework for the planetary motions that placed the
Sun firmly in the solar system's center.   He wasn't the first, of course.
Copernicus shifted Earth from its revered place more than half a century
earlier.   Secondly, Galileo Galilei had made modifications to a lens
system invented by a Dutch mariner named Hans Lippershey.   This system,
called a "telescope," enabled Galileo to observe the heavenly bodies more
closely than ever before.     While observing the planet Jupiter through
late 1609/early 1610, Galileo observed what he initially believed were
three "stars" close to Jupiter.    Soon after he discovered another "star,"
Galileo realized that they were moving in a manner unlike that of any other
star.  He rightly concluded that these "stars" were actually revolving
around Jupiter just as the moon orbits Earth.       Galileo collected
direct evidence that objects were revolving around a celestial body.
 This conclusion was the death knell for the geocentric ("Earth centered")
solar system model.
[image: Sidereus_Nuncius_Medicean_Stars.jpg]
Galileo first recorded his observation of Jupiter's largest satellites in
his 1610 publication Siderius Nuncius ("The Starry Messenger")  These four
Jovian satellites, known now collectively as the "Galilean moons," were the
first moons discovered beyond the one revolving around Earth.   Named for
some of Jupiter's many lovers, they are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.


[image: Jupiter_and_the_Galilean_Satellites.jpg]


   - *Ganymede, *the solar system's largest moon, is larger than Mercury or
   Pluto, though it is less dense owing to its icy composition
   - *Europa, *coated entirely by ice, might harbor life within a deep
   subterranean ocean.    Tidal forces exerted between Europa, Io and Jupiter
   impart sufficient heat energy to maintain a liquid ocean beneath its
   surface.
   - *Io*  is known for its erupting volcanoes.    The same tidal stresses
   that produce Europa's ocean are also responsible for Io's volcanic
   activity.
   - *Callisto* is the "battered" moon.    Craters cover more than 90% of
   its surface.     While all bodies have withstood repeated asteroid impacts,
   Callisto still shows its scars all over its body.


Forty five years elapsed until Christian Huygens (1629-1695) discovered
Saturn's largest moon, Titan.    Though he announced his discovery in 1655,
he didn't officially publish this discovery until 1659, when he included
the detection in his 1659 publication *Systema Saturnium. *

[image: Two_Halves_of_Titan.png]

   - *Titan* is the atmospheric planet.    It is one of the four moons
   known to harbor a "collisional atmosphere," meaning that the gas molecules
   collide with others before traveling an appreciable distance.   Titan's
   atmosphere is thicker than the atmospheres surrounding the other moons.
      Consisting primarily of nitrogen, methane and hydrogen, Titan's "air" is
   likely similar to the gas clouds that enshrouded the early Earth

Only four more moons, all around Saturn, were discovered during the
remainder of the 17th century.  Found by Giovanni Cassini, they are *Rhea*
(1673), *Iapetus*, (1673) *Tethys* (1684) and *Dione* (1686).

William Herschel discovered Uranus in 1781.   Six years later he announced
the discovery of two of its moons: *Titania *and *Oberon.   *Though
initially listed as Uranian satellites II and IV, these moons and all the
others now known to be revolving around Uranus are named for characters
created by either William Shakespeare or Alexander Pope.  Herschel also
discovered *Enceladus*  (1789) and *Mimas* (1789).    These were the only
other moons discovered during the 18th century.

[image: Mimas-and-Death-Star.jpg]

   - *Mimas* is the "Death Star" moon, so named because its largest crater,
   appropriately named "Herschel" lends it an appearance resembling the famous
   planet destroying vessel that the empire has built and rebuilt and rebuilt
   throughout all 37 sequels and prequels.

Urbain Leverrier, John Couch Adams and Johanne Galle all receive credit for
having discovered Neptune in 1846.  However, a lesser known astronomer
named William Lasell (1799-1880) is solely responsible for having
discovered Neptune's largest moon *Triton *less than a month later.

[image: 450px-Triton_moon_mosaic_Voyager_2_(large).jpg]


   - *Triton *spews methane crystals out of geysers that erupt out of its
   methane ice surface.    Voyager 2 captured the photograph above when it
   traveled through the Neptune system in 1989.


In 1848 Lasell and the two "Bonds," the father son astronomers named
William Cranch and George Phillips, discovered *Hyperion,* another
Saturnian moon.  During the remainder of the 19th century, two more moons
were discovered around Uranus, one more around Jupiter and another around
Saturn.   In 1877, Asaph Hall (1829-1907) found *Phobos* and *Deimos*, the
only two moons known to be in orbit around Mars.

[image: Orbits_of_Phobos_and_Deimos.gif]

   - *Phobos *(the inner moon) and *Deimos*(the outer moon) are both
   presumed to have been captured asteroids.   Phobos completes one orbit
   around Mars every 7.5 hours.  Deimos requires 30.3 hours to complete one
   orbit.   Tidal forces will eventually demolish Phobos and its particles
   will form a ring around Mars.  Phobos will eventually leave the Martian
   orbit.


The 20th century brought literally hundreds of moon discoveries.  The 21st
century has proven to be nearly as fruitful, at least so far.  The more
recent discover was of a small Saturnian moon with the current designation
of S/2004 S 39.


It is highly likely that we humans will evolve into a star-faring race in
the foreseeable, though not necessarily near, future.    However,
astronauts will have plenty of real estate to explore before we even set a
toe around Alpha Centauri.



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