Lamia: Eye Remover
By now we should all recognize that Zeus' illicit trysts rarely ended well. In fact, due to the vengeful actions of his jealous wife Hera, most of his infidelities led to tragic results Perhaps none more so than that with Lamia, whose liaison with Zeus eventually caused her behavior and appearance to literally become bestial. The daughter of Egyptian king Belus, Lamia grew into a woman possessed of unusual physical and spiritual beauty. Consequently, in her youth she was beloved of all. Unfortunately Zeus, himself, came to her and professed an abiding love for the young woman. Believing his claims to have been sincere -and not, as they actually were, a means to an end- she became his lover and by him sired many children. For a while she luxuriated in his affections and believed that she would live indefinitely as the King God's consort. Yet, it was not to be. Hera came to learn of this relationship and of its unusually long duration. She resolved to punish Lamia severely. Soon thereafter Lamia awoke around midnight in anguish for she was ravenously hungry. To her delight, she found large and delicious fruits scattered over the floor. Lamia rapidly devoured these delectable fruits and, her hunger satiated, she fell into a deep sleep. Lamia awoke the next morning feeling very strange. Her stomach ached and she felt nauseous. She remembered the fruits and wondered if, perhaps, they were rancid. Soon, however, she realized that spoiled fruits didn't cause her aches. Instead, what she thought had been fruits were actually her children. Knowing that she had consumed them all, Lamia collapsed in a paroxysm of grief and wailed aloud for the rest of the day. Though her bereavement had left her exhausted, at night fall she found that she could not sleep. Hera commanded Hypnos, the god of sleep, to never visit Lamia again so that she would experience her profound grief without the respite of dreamless repose. Zeus, having been informed by Hypnos of Hera's dictate, gave Lamia the ability to remove and replace her eyes at will. This minor kind act could not undo the profound damage that Hera inflicted on Zeus' mistress. Lamia soon found that she craved soft infant flesh and went about nearby villages at midnight in search of babies. She was said to have abducted them from their cribs and devoured them quickly to prevent their cries from waking their parents.
Each time she dined on an infant, Lamia's beauty diminished. Her countenance became less comely and more contorted. Eventually, she became entirely bestial: her body assumed a more serpentine aspect. She abandoned her home and lived in the remotest regions where she could prey on those who hadn't yet learned of the monstrous woman who ate small children. Soon after the abductions started, village dwellers became quite vigilant about protecting their children, much to Lamia's chagrin. According to the myth, Lamia remained in this wretched state forever: a sleepless creature condemned to dwell deep in the wilderness: tormented both by the grief for her slain children and the insatiable desire to eat young children. It was said that mothers in the region we now call Ancient Greece warned their unruly children that Lamia prowled through the country at night looking for misbehaving children to eat. Whether or not this story actually induced many children to improve their behaviors remains largely unknown.
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THE DAILY ASTRONOMER
Tuesday, September 15, 2020
Remote Planetarium 89: Lenticulars and Irregulars
Yesterday we introduced the Hubble "Tuning Fork," a diagram displaying the three main types of galaxies: ellipticals, spirals and barred spirals. Today we discuss two other, lesser known galaxy types: lenticular and irregular.
Lenticular galaxies have often been called "UFO galaxies" owing to their featureless, disk shapes. They are actually disk-galaxies that no longer contain much gaseous interstellar material and so are not regions of active star formation. However, they often will retain great stores of dust within the disk, itself. One also notices that these lenticular galaxies, so named owing to their resemblance to lenses, are devoid of well defined spiral arms. Galactic astronomers believe these lenticular galaxies are intermediates between spirals and ellipticals. Galaxies do evolve over long time periods. Lenticulars are likely early type galaxies in a state of gradual transition. While lenticulars have no spiral arms, they do tend to sport distinctive bulges. Those lenticular galaxies without bulges resemble E0 ellipticals, which we recall are those which are nearly circular.
Irregular galaxies are the true outliers. They don't fit into any of the other categories. Comprising about twenty five percent of all galaxies, irregular lack any discernible shape or arm structure. They are large amalgamations of stars that might have been highly structured galaxies are one time until interactions with other bodies deprived them of their shape. Astronomers divide irregular galaxies into three main types:
- Irr-I: An irregular galaxy might have contain some structure, but not enough to place it along the Hubble Sequence. An irregular galaxy with spiral structure is classified as Sm; those without spiral structure are known as Im
- Irr-II: An irregular galaxy devoid of any structure that could place it on the Hubble Sequence.
- dlrr: a dwarf irregular galaxy. As its name implies, it is smaller and contains fewer stars.
As we will learn in greater detail tomorrow, galaxies are changing and evolving. The extent to which they experience alterations depends on their interactions with other galaxies. The Milky Way, for instance, has absorbed over dwarf galaxies into itself and is continuing to do so. However, our home galaxy is due for a major change in about 4 - 5 billion years from now. More on that matter tomorrow, as well.
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