1 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:06,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:12,760 --> 00:00:14,600 Speaker 2: Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind. My 3 00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:15,520 Speaker 2: name is Robert. 4 00:00:15,360 --> 00:00:18,800 Speaker 3: Lamb and I am Joe McCormick. And today on Stuff 5 00:00:18,840 --> 00:00:21,239 Speaker 3: to Blow Your Mind, we're going to begin a series 6 00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:25,840 Speaker 3: on Jupiter's moon Io. Now, years ago, we did a 7 00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:29,440 Speaker 3: whole series of episodes on the moons of Jupiter as 8 00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:33,240 Speaker 3: a whole, focusing mainly on the four Galilean moons. We'll 9 00:00:33,240 --> 00:00:36,120 Speaker 3: talk more about that in a bit. But recently I 10 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:39,000 Speaker 3: decided I wanted to come back and do a deeper 11 00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:44,519 Speaker 3: revisit on Io. In particular, iobing Jupiter's innermost moon. And 12 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:48,720 Speaker 3: this was in part because I learned some new interesting 13 00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:51,720 Speaker 3: things about it. But what really triggered this, this new 14 00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:54,800 Speaker 3: rabbit trail of research, was that one night, I don't know, 15 00:00:54,840 --> 00:00:57,880 Speaker 3: sometime in the past week, I got obsessed with new 16 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:02,800 Speaker 3: imagery generated by the NASA Juno mission in late twenty 17 00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:06,160 Speaker 3: twenty three and twenty twenty four. And so, Rob, if 18 00:01:06,160 --> 00:01:07,920 Speaker 3: it's all right with you, I'd like to start off 19 00:01:08,600 --> 00:01:10,840 Speaker 3: with us looking at one of these images in particular, 20 00:01:10,920 --> 00:01:12,840 Speaker 3: and folks at home, we will describe it for you. 21 00:01:13,319 --> 00:01:14,600 Speaker 2: All right, let's do it so. 22 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:19,600 Speaker 3: This is a very crisp color image of Io's northern 23 00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:24,399 Speaker 3: polar region taken by the Juno spacecraft on December thirtieth, 24 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:28,600 Speaker 3: twenty twenty three, during Juno's fifty seventh close flyby of 25 00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:31,880 Speaker 3: the Moon. The image was released by NASA JPL based 26 00:01:31,920 --> 00:01:36,160 Speaker 3: on data taken by the Juno spacecraft, with some additional 27 00:01:36,319 --> 00:01:41,400 Speaker 3: image processing by somebody named Gerald Eichstadt. And I found 28 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:46,399 Speaker 3: this picture so weird and thrilling to the imagination. For 29 00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:48,200 Speaker 3: those who can't look it up, if you can look 30 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:51,000 Speaker 3: it up, i'd recommend checking it out again. Keywords are 31 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:55,200 Speaker 3: probably Io northern Polar Region, December twenty twenty three. I'm 32 00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:58,000 Speaker 3: sure that I'll pull it up. But for those who 33 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:02,240 Speaker 3: can't look it up, what we're seeing here is half 34 00:02:02,480 --> 00:02:07,120 Speaker 3: of the Moon as an illuminated hemisphere, fading into darkness 35 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:10,320 Speaker 3: at the meridian. Now, there's a lot we could say 36 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:13,080 Speaker 3: about the color of Io, and we'll come back to 37 00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:15,480 Speaker 3: that actually in a few minutes. But in this photo 38 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:20,880 Speaker 3: we see wide empty planes of a faded rose color, 39 00:02:20,960 --> 00:02:26,160 Speaker 3: a kind of pale, rusty pink, dotted by gaping sunken 40 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:31,440 Speaker 3: craters and mountains that rise up into space. With alarming sharpness. 41 00:02:31,480 --> 00:02:35,079 Speaker 3: In some cases, they're rising up like thorns, casting these 42 00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:39,400 Speaker 3: long shadows on their night side slopes, And the craters 43 00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:42,560 Speaker 3: are often darker than the plains around them, as if 44 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:46,079 Speaker 3: containing silent, cold seas of water. That's what I saw 45 00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:47,680 Speaker 3: when I first looked at this. But of course we 46 00:02:47,720 --> 00:02:49,720 Speaker 3: know it's not going to be water in those craters. 47 00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:53,639 Speaker 3: What is in those craters? We'll get to that. Then 48 00:02:53,720 --> 00:02:57,000 Speaker 3: in some spots we see surface features that look almost 49 00:02:57,040 --> 00:03:01,080 Speaker 3: like a biological growth or infection, and a kind of 50 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:06,080 Speaker 3: mass of yellow orange slime mold shaped just like pure chaos, 51 00:03:06,120 --> 00:03:10,200 Speaker 3: just reaching its fingers out across the moon looking for something. 52 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:14,640 Speaker 3: And then surrounding these colonies of mold, and around the 53 00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:19,240 Speaker 3: sharp mountains there are pale gray flats that look like 54 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:23,920 Speaker 3: borders marked in ash. I just love this photo. It 55 00:03:24,080 --> 00:03:28,520 Speaker 3: makes me want to personally explore space. It's bizarre, lovely, 56 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:31,200 Speaker 3: frightening and seething with drama. 57 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:37,240 Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, this image. It looks like perhaps the pinkish 58 00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:38,880 Speaker 2: disease scalp of a zombie. 59 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:39,600 Speaker 3: It. 60 00:03:39,920 --> 00:03:42,000 Speaker 2: I also thought, well that this looks exactly like the 61 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:45,040 Speaker 2: sort of world that would be your destination in a 62 00:03:45,080 --> 00:03:47,680 Speaker 2: Doom video game. Oh, you know, it just looks like 63 00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:50,760 Speaker 2: a hellish planet where you're probably going to have to 64 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:51,839 Speaker 2: blast demonoids. 65 00:03:52,360 --> 00:03:55,400 Speaker 3: I very much see the zombie comparison, especially like a 66 00:03:55,440 --> 00:03:58,960 Speaker 3: close up on zombie skin, because when you zoom in, 67 00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:02,000 Speaker 3: especially on these mountains, I see something that looks like 68 00:04:02,040 --> 00:04:06,840 Speaker 3: the texture of those liquid latex makeup effects, where there's 69 00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:09,440 Speaker 3: like a scab or a scar on a zombie. That's gonna, 70 00:04:09,680 --> 00:04:11,280 Speaker 3: you know, if it's a full chew movie, it's gonna 71 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:13,840 Speaker 3: peel off. And sorry to get gross, but that is 72 00:04:13,880 --> 00:04:14,560 Speaker 3: what it looks like. 73 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:17,680 Speaker 2: It looks infected. It looks infected. 74 00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:21,360 Speaker 3: In more ways than one. But so anyway, this photo 75 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:24,719 Speaker 3: and some others got my brain racing about IO. I 76 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:27,240 Speaker 3: started reading some things about it, and I realized that 77 00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:29,599 Speaker 3: there's a lot of interesting stuff about this moon that 78 00:04:29,640 --> 00:04:32,400 Speaker 3: we did not get into in our larger series on 79 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:35,080 Speaker 3: the Galilean Moons years ago. So I wanted to come 80 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:37,920 Speaker 3: back and go deep on this moon. That's why we're 81 00:04:37,960 --> 00:04:38,599 Speaker 3: here today. 82 00:04:39,080 --> 00:04:41,520 Speaker 2: Yeah, I was looking back at our notes on the 83 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:45,040 Speaker 2: Jovian Moons series and I found that, yeah, we didn't 84 00:04:45,080 --> 00:04:47,520 Speaker 2: even really get into the mythology of Io at all, 85 00:04:47,839 --> 00:04:50,240 Speaker 2: Like where this name comes from? And all of that 86 00:04:50,279 --> 00:04:52,040 Speaker 2: is quite fascinating as well, So that's going to be 87 00:04:52,080 --> 00:04:54,440 Speaker 2: fun to explore as we proceed here. 88 00:04:55,200 --> 00:04:59,400 Speaker 3: Yeah, knowing the mythology definitely does enliven and kind of 89 00:04:59,400 --> 00:05:02,719 Speaker 3: throw into shadows over the geology and all of the 90 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:06,719 Speaker 3: physical facts. So I figure a good place to start 91 00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:09,400 Speaker 3: is to just do a brief kind of refresher course 92 00:05:09,560 --> 00:05:14,400 Speaker 3: on the Moon. So Io is the innermost of the 93 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:18,360 Speaker 3: what are known as Jupiter's Galilean moons. These are the 94 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:22,920 Speaker 3: four large moons that were discovered by the Italian astronomer 95 00:05:22,960 --> 00:05:28,520 Speaker 3: and scientific pioneer Galileo Galilei in January sixteen ten using 96 00:05:28,600 --> 00:05:32,880 Speaker 3: a refracting telescope with twenty times magnification power. These four 97 00:05:32,920 --> 00:05:36,400 Speaker 3: moons are from innermost to outermost. So you're starting at 98 00:05:36,400 --> 00:05:40,000 Speaker 3: the planet, going out, you get Io, then you get Europa, 99 00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:45,359 Speaker 3: then Ganymede, than Callisto. Now these are not Jupiter's only moons. 100 00:05:45,400 --> 00:05:49,680 Speaker 3: Jupiter actually has ninety five total moons according to the 101 00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:54,600 Speaker 3: International Astronomical Union, and that's not even everything orbiting the planet. 102 00:05:54,600 --> 00:05:57,200 Speaker 3: That's just the recognized moons. It's not including a bunch 103 00:05:57,240 --> 00:06:00,560 Speaker 3: of small orbiters reaching down to the scale of human furniture. 104 00:06:01,800 --> 00:06:06,200 Speaker 3: We've talked on the show before about how the observation 105 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:11,279 Speaker 3: of the Galilean moons was not just an important thing 106 00:06:11,360 --> 00:06:13,560 Speaker 3: in the history of astronomy, not just like, oh, we 107 00:06:13,680 --> 00:06:16,560 Speaker 3: learned about some new things out in the sky in 108 00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:19,080 Speaker 3: the Solar System, but it was an important moment in 109 00:06:19,120 --> 00:06:22,799 Speaker 3: the history of science because it was one of many 110 00:06:23,320 --> 00:06:28,120 Speaker 3: pieces of evidence that Galileo marshaled against the geocentric model 111 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:33,200 Speaker 3: of the cosmos. Because, to simplify the argument, if it 112 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:37,360 Speaker 3: can be shown that objects orbit another planet like Jupiter, 113 00:06:37,760 --> 00:06:40,760 Speaker 3: why then should we assume that everything in the universe 114 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:44,360 Speaker 3: orbits the Earth. Maybe instead, the Earth and the planets 115 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:47,800 Speaker 3: all orbit the Sun, and moons orbit the planets, and 116 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:51,880 Speaker 3: orbital pathways are a result of some deeper general principle 117 00:06:51,920 --> 00:06:56,000 Speaker 3: other than everything goes around the Earth. Now, technically, when 118 00:06:56,120 --> 00:06:59,800 Speaker 3: Galileo first spied the moons of Jupiter through his telescope, 119 00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:03,480 Speaker 3: at the very beginning, he thought that they were fixed stars. 120 00:07:03,480 --> 00:07:04,080 Speaker 2: He thought he was. 121 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:07,640 Speaker 3: Looking at stars beyond Jupiter and marked their place. But 122 00:07:07,680 --> 00:07:09,840 Speaker 3: then he looked at Jupiter again later and the stars 123 00:07:09,840 --> 00:07:12,240 Speaker 3: were in a different arrangement, so he realized, like, oh, 124 00:07:12,280 --> 00:07:14,680 Speaker 3: those are not stars, those are something else in the foreground. 125 00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:18,320 Speaker 3: They're going around the planet. And when he first saw them, 126 00:07:18,360 --> 00:07:21,800 Speaker 3: he thought he saw three, not four, because he was 127 00:07:21,880 --> 00:07:26,240 Speaker 3: not able to distinguish Io and Europa. Europa being the 128 00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:29,160 Speaker 3: second innermost of the large moons, he was not able 129 00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:31,520 Speaker 3: to distinguish them as separate points of light. It was 130 00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:34,040 Speaker 3: only in later observations he realized that there were four 131 00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:38,160 Speaker 3: of them. Now, in terms of mass and volume, Io 132 00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:42,760 Speaker 3: is the third largest of Jupiter's moons, after Ganymede and Callisto, 133 00:07:43,360 --> 00:07:47,720 Speaker 3: and it is just slightly larger in diameter than Earth's Moon. 134 00:07:48,240 --> 00:07:51,440 Speaker 3: As the nearest of the Galilean moons to Jupiter, its 135 00:07:51,480 --> 00:07:54,640 Speaker 3: average orbital distance from the planet is four hundred and 136 00:07:54,640 --> 00:07:57,760 Speaker 3: twenty two thousand kilometers or two hundred and sixty two 137 00:07:57,840 --> 00:08:02,400 Speaker 3: thousand miles. Now, the fact that you might know which 138 00:08:02,480 --> 00:08:05,040 Speaker 3: really sets Io apart and is probably going to be 139 00:08:05,080 --> 00:08:08,920 Speaker 3: one of our main focuses in this series, is that 140 00:08:09,040 --> 00:08:14,400 Speaker 3: Io is the most volcanically active object in our solar system, 141 00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:19,200 Speaker 3: with hundreds of active volcanoes at any given time. I 142 00:08:19,240 --> 00:08:22,800 Speaker 3: think there are more than one hundred and fifty active 143 00:08:22,880 --> 00:08:27,120 Speaker 3: volcanoes that have been directly observed, and scientists have estimated 144 00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:29,480 Speaker 3: based on what we have observed, that there are probably 145 00:08:29,560 --> 00:08:42,760 Speaker 3: like four hundred or so in total on the surface. Now, 146 00:08:42,840 --> 00:08:45,400 Speaker 3: just earlier today, I was actually reading the story of 147 00:08:45,480 --> 00:08:49,760 Speaker 3: how the existence of those volcanoes on Io was first confirmed. 148 00:08:50,320 --> 00:08:53,360 Speaker 3: And this actually brings us back to the question of 149 00:08:53,520 --> 00:08:56,120 Speaker 3: the color, the color of the surface of the Moon, 150 00:08:56,360 --> 00:08:59,520 Speaker 3: which I brought up earlier, and where I was reading 151 00:08:59,559 --> 00:09:03,319 Speaker 3: about this was in Carl Sagan's book Cosmos, first published 152 00:09:03,320 --> 00:09:05,559 Speaker 3: in nineteen eighty, sort of as a companion to the 153 00:09:06,640 --> 00:09:10,480 Speaker 3: documentary series he did. Sagan was writing about Io in 154 00:09:10,559 --> 00:09:14,600 Speaker 3: that saying that the following was his favorite of what 155 00:09:14,640 --> 00:09:18,920 Speaker 3: he called the traveler's tales that were returned by the 156 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:19,920 Speaker 3: voyager probe. 157 00:09:20,440 --> 00:09:21,520 Speaker 2: Are you going to do the voice? 158 00:09:22,120 --> 00:09:24,040 Speaker 3: I appreciate you putting me on the spot, but no, 159 00:09:24,160 --> 00:09:25,200 Speaker 3: I can't do the voice. 160 00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:25,320 Speaker 1: No. 161 00:09:25,720 --> 00:09:28,280 Speaker 2: Anytime I read Sagan, though, I hear it in his voice. 162 00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:29,720 Speaker 3: Oh good, I know exactly what. 163 00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:29,959 Speaker 2: Yeah. 164 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:33,160 Speaker 3: I hear it in the voice too. Yeah, but I can't. Okay, 165 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:36,120 Speaker 3: So here it is in my voice, his words, my voice, 166 00:09:36,800 --> 00:09:40,880 Speaker 3: Sagan writes, quote, before voyager we were aware of something 167 00:09:40,960 --> 00:09:45,199 Speaker 3: strange about Io. We could resolve few features on its surface, 168 00:09:45,280 --> 00:09:50,040 Speaker 3: but we knew it was red, extremely read redder than Mars, 169 00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:54,000 Speaker 3: perhaps the reddest object in the Solar System. Over a 170 00:09:54,040 --> 00:09:57,040 Speaker 3: period of years, something seemed to be changing on it 171 00:09:57,360 --> 00:10:01,200 Speaker 3: in infrared light and perhaps in its radar reflection properties. 172 00:10:01,640 --> 00:10:05,199 Speaker 3: We also know that partially surrounding Jupiter in the orbital 173 00:10:05,240 --> 00:10:09,440 Speaker 3: position of Io was a great doughnut shaped tube of 174 00:10:09,600 --> 00:10:16,080 Speaker 3: atoms sulfur and sodium and potassium material somehow lost from Io. 175 00:10:17,720 --> 00:10:20,720 Speaker 3: Oh wow, what a mystery. Okay, so you know, we've 176 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:23,840 Speaker 3: never gotten close enough to see what's happening on the surface, 177 00:10:23,880 --> 00:10:26,400 Speaker 3: but for some reason, it looks super red, redder than 178 00:10:26,440 --> 00:10:29,240 Speaker 3: anything else we can see around, and it's leaving this 179 00:10:29,480 --> 00:10:32,920 Speaker 3: trail of atoms in space, like it's just spitting out 180 00:10:32,960 --> 00:10:36,520 Speaker 3: atoms into orbit around Jupiter. And then the mystery only 181 00:10:36,520 --> 00:10:40,160 Speaker 3: gets weirder once the voyager probe actually approaches the Moon 182 00:10:40,280 --> 00:10:43,280 Speaker 3: and sends back images in nineteen seventy nine. What they 183 00:10:43,320 --> 00:10:47,240 Speaker 3: see is very strange. First of all, the surface is 184 00:10:47,640 --> 00:10:51,200 Speaker 3: multi colored, as we brought up earlier. If you see 185 00:10:51,920 --> 00:10:55,120 Speaker 3: what they call true color photos of Io, they are 186 00:10:55,160 --> 00:10:59,440 Speaker 3: often overwhelmingly yellow, like a I don't know, a canary 187 00:10:59,559 --> 00:11:01,480 Speaker 3: or a ban and I kind of yellow except I 188 00:11:01,480 --> 00:11:04,280 Speaker 3: don't know, maybe a little paler and more sickly, some 189 00:11:04,400 --> 00:11:10,800 Speaker 3: kind of vomitous duckling yellow with these blotches of red, pink, gray, 190 00:11:11,040 --> 00:11:14,560 Speaker 3: and green. I feel like this has too normative of 191 00:11:14,559 --> 00:11:17,320 Speaker 3: a connotation, but it really does always kind of remind 192 00:11:17,360 --> 00:11:20,800 Speaker 3: me of sickness in some way, not trying to say 193 00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:23,640 Speaker 3: io is a bad place. So one of the happier 194 00:11:23,679 --> 00:11:27,840 Speaker 3: comparisons that astronomers sometimes make about the different coloration patterns 195 00:11:27,880 --> 00:11:30,520 Speaker 3: is they call it a pizza planet. They're like, it's 196 00:11:30,520 --> 00:11:33,480 Speaker 3: got like cheese and pepperonis and olives and all that. 197 00:11:33,640 --> 00:11:35,600 Speaker 2: Well that's a way to make it attractive, I guess. 198 00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:37,600 Speaker 2: But yeah, it does look like some sort of a 199 00:11:37,640 --> 00:11:39,720 Speaker 2: strange like nergal world. 200 00:11:39,840 --> 00:11:44,920 Speaker 3: So yeah, yeah. Also, scientists looking at the images of 201 00:11:44,920 --> 00:11:50,560 Speaker 3: iosurface realized it was missing something impact craters due to 202 00:11:50,840 --> 00:11:55,240 Speaker 3: its position near the asteroid belt. Sagan writes that this 203 00:11:55,320 --> 00:11:59,800 Speaker 3: object really would have to have undergone repeated impacts from space, 204 00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:03,960 Speaker 3: should be hammered by asteroids, by things coming down on 205 00:12:04,040 --> 00:12:06,680 Speaker 3: it and leaving pocks in its surface that we would 206 00:12:06,720 --> 00:12:09,160 Speaker 3: be able to see, you know, just like look at 207 00:12:09,160 --> 00:12:11,840 Speaker 3: the Moon. It should maybe look something like that, but 208 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:16,000 Speaker 3: instead its surface showed little to no sign of impacts, 209 00:12:16,040 --> 00:12:20,880 Speaker 3: as if something was rapidly erasing the evidence of collisions. Now, 210 00:12:21,040 --> 00:12:25,240 Speaker 3: whatever was doing that erasing could not be atmospheric in nature, 211 00:12:25,600 --> 00:12:28,800 Speaker 3: because Io has almost no atmosphere. It does have an atmosphere, 212 00:12:28,800 --> 00:12:33,600 Speaker 3: but it's incredibly thin, made primarily of sulfur dioxide. If 213 00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:36,640 Speaker 3: those surface features are being erased, they couldn't be erased 214 00:12:36,679 --> 00:12:40,600 Speaker 3: by erosion of running water because the conditions on the 215 00:12:40,640 --> 00:12:44,600 Speaker 3: surface of Io would not permit liquid water. So it 216 00:12:44,760 --> 00:12:50,920 Speaker 3: had been theorized by some astrophysicists. Segan names an astrophysicist 217 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:57,000 Speaker 3: named Stanton Peel that Io might have erupting volcanoes due 218 00:12:57,080 --> 00:13:00,840 Speaker 3: to tidal heating of its interior. So this is a 219 00:13:00,920 --> 00:13:03,640 Speaker 3: frictional heating of the inside of the planet caused by 220 00:13:03,679 --> 00:13:06,480 Speaker 3: gravitational forces. We'll explain more about this as we go 221 00:13:06,520 --> 00:13:11,000 Speaker 3: on in the series. But that could lead to volcanic eruptions, 222 00:13:11,240 --> 00:13:14,280 Speaker 3: which could do the job of repaving the surface if 223 00:13:14,320 --> 00:13:17,840 Speaker 3: these volcanoes existed. But up until this point in nineteen 224 00:13:17,920 --> 00:13:20,120 Speaker 3: seventy nine, there was no way to know if any 225 00:13:20,120 --> 00:13:22,080 Speaker 3: of that was true. It was just an idea. That's 226 00:13:22,160 --> 00:13:25,040 Speaker 3: one thing that could be going on. Here then Sagan 227 00:13:25,120 --> 00:13:29,240 Speaker 3: tells of the discovery. He writes, quote Linda Moribto, a 228 00:13:29,320 --> 00:13:33,640 Speaker 3: member of the Voyager navigation team responsible for keeping Voyager 229 00:13:33,720 --> 00:13:38,320 Speaker 3: precisely on its trajectory, was routinely ordering a computer to 230 00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:41,640 Speaker 3: enhance an image of the edge of Io to bring 231 00:13:41,679 --> 00:13:45,800 Speaker 3: out the stars behind it. To her astonishment, she saw 232 00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:49,240 Speaker 3: a bright plume standing off in the darkness from the 233 00:13:49,280 --> 00:13:53,000 Speaker 3: satellite's surface, and soon determined that the plume was in 234 00:13:53,120 --> 00:13:57,560 Speaker 3: exactly the position of one of the suspected volcanoes. Voyager 235 00:13:57,600 --> 00:14:00,880 Speaker 3: had discovered, the first active volcano being on the Earth. 236 00:14:01,320 --> 00:14:04,480 Speaker 3: We now know of nine large volcanoes spewing out gas 237 00:14:04,480 --> 00:14:07,120 Speaker 3: and debris. Remember this was in nineteen eighty when this 238 00:14:07,120 --> 00:14:11,240 Speaker 3: book was written. Nine large volcanoes spewing out gas and debris, 239 00:14:11,280 --> 00:14:15,840 Speaker 3: and hundreds, perhaps thousands of extinct volcanoes on Io. The 240 00:14:15,920 --> 00:14:20,000 Speaker 3: debris rolling and flowing down the sides of the volcanic mountains, 241 00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:24,160 Speaker 3: arching in great jets over the polychrome landscape is more 242 00:14:24,200 --> 00:14:27,120 Speaker 3: than enough to cover the impact craters. We are looking 243 00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:31,800 Speaker 3: at a fresh planetary landscape, a surface newly hatched. How 244 00:14:31,880 --> 00:14:35,680 Speaker 3: Galileo and Huygens would have marveled now I love that 245 00:14:35,800 --> 00:14:38,600 Speaker 3: story for multiple reasons, one of which is the idea 246 00:14:38,680 --> 00:14:42,720 Speaker 3: that the plume from the volcano was spotted not by 247 00:14:42,760 --> 00:14:47,200 Speaker 3: somebody who was intentionally hunting four volcanoes, but in the 248 00:14:47,280 --> 00:14:52,000 Speaker 3: process of trying to better resolve navigation navigationally relevant data. 249 00:14:53,160 --> 00:14:56,360 Speaker 3: But I also love how it paints this picture of 250 00:14:56,600 --> 00:15:00,120 Speaker 3: Io as a place of a freshness of chain. 251 00:15:01,400 --> 00:15:01,600 Speaker 2: Rob. 252 00:15:01,640 --> 00:15:03,360 Speaker 3: I think we've talked about this on the show before 253 00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:06,960 Speaker 3: that often when we think of anything beyond Earth, things 254 00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:13,320 Speaker 3: in space, we tend to think of a kind of inert, changeless, 255 00:15:14,520 --> 00:15:20,480 Speaker 3: frozen or dead landscape, places where nothing all that interesting 256 00:15:20,560 --> 00:15:24,080 Speaker 3: ever really happens. Like what is interesting about the places 257 00:15:24,120 --> 00:15:27,560 Speaker 3: beyond Earth is kind of a I don't know, features 258 00:15:27,600 --> 00:15:30,240 Speaker 3: of permanent interest, just the way things are and have 259 00:15:30,320 --> 00:15:33,040 Speaker 3: always been and will always be. Obviously, we know that's 260 00:15:33,080 --> 00:15:35,320 Speaker 3: not true, and if you like fast forward the tape 261 00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:39,240 Speaker 3: of geologic time and cosmic time, things change a lot. 262 00:15:39,320 --> 00:15:42,360 Speaker 3: But just thinking about other planets and moons seems like 263 00:15:42,400 --> 00:15:45,600 Speaker 3: not a lot is happening there, and that is absolutely 264 00:15:45,640 --> 00:15:48,520 Speaker 3: not the case on the surface of Io. You know 265 00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:51,960 Speaker 3: he's talking Segan here is talking about Io as a 266 00:15:52,040 --> 00:15:56,080 Speaker 3: place where the surface changes on a timescale of months. 267 00:15:57,080 --> 00:15:58,600 Speaker 2: It is a dynamic world. 268 00:15:59,200 --> 00:16:01,280 Speaker 3: And so this leads to another thing he gets into 269 00:16:01,320 --> 00:16:05,200 Speaker 3: about the chemistry of Io and its volcanic activity, and 270 00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:09,000 Speaker 3: how this actually relates to the strange patterns of what 271 00:16:09,080 --> 00:16:12,080 Speaker 3: he called the polychrome surface, the different coloration patterns we 272 00:16:12,080 --> 00:16:15,280 Speaker 3: see on the surface. Sagan writes that this is actually 273 00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:18,000 Speaker 3: what we would expect to see from the release of 274 00:16:18,080 --> 00:16:23,080 Speaker 3: molten sulfur and the interactions of sulfur compounds from Io's 275 00:16:23,160 --> 00:16:25,680 Speaker 3: volcanoes and on the surface of the moon. So you 276 00:16:25,760 --> 00:16:30,040 Speaker 3: get like these black coloration at the hottest places where 277 00:16:30,040 --> 00:16:32,480 Speaker 3: the sulfur is just coming out, and maybe near the 278 00:16:32,480 --> 00:16:35,040 Speaker 3: top of the volcano or the mouth of the volcano, 279 00:16:35,680 --> 00:16:38,640 Speaker 3: and then nearby where there would be flows of what's 280 00:16:38,640 --> 00:16:41,080 Speaker 3: coming out of the volcanoes, you get something more like 281 00:16:41,200 --> 00:16:44,600 Speaker 3: red and orange. And then beyond that you get these 282 00:16:44,680 --> 00:16:47,680 Speaker 3: big empty planes that are just kind of like yellow, 283 00:16:47,880 --> 00:16:51,560 Speaker 3: yellowish sulfur. Now, on the subject of what is coming 284 00:16:51,600 --> 00:16:53,760 Speaker 3: out of the mouth of the volcanoes, or what might 285 00:16:53,760 --> 00:16:57,240 Speaker 3: be forming sort of lakes or rivers of flows beyond 286 00:16:57,680 --> 00:17:02,160 Speaker 3: beyond a volcano on Io, it's worth noting that materials 287 00:17:02,200 --> 00:17:06,359 Speaker 3: ejected from volcanoes tend to be very hot. That's true, 288 00:17:06,359 --> 00:17:09,440 Speaker 3: whether we're talking about Earth or Io. They can form 289 00:17:09,560 --> 00:17:13,679 Speaker 3: these searing lava flows. But a crazy fact that I 290 00:17:13,760 --> 00:17:18,680 Speaker 3: came across is that apparently lava flows on Io are 291 00:17:18,960 --> 00:17:23,520 Speaker 3: even hotter than lava flows on Earth. You know, I 292 00:17:23,600 --> 00:17:26,080 Speaker 3: might have just assumed that la lava is going to 293 00:17:26,119 --> 00:17:28,199 Speaker 3: be roughly the same temperature wherever it is. You know, 294 00:17:28,240 --> 00:17:30,719 Speaker 3: once it sort of reaches the surface, it's you know, 295 00:17:30,800 --> 00:17:33,240 Speaker 3: it's probably cooling off. I don't know, I don't know 296 00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:35,720 Speaker 3: why I would have thought that, but that's clearly wrong. 297 00:17:36,359 --> 00:17:39,680 Speaker 3: So I was reading about this in an August first, 298 00:17:39,720 --> 00:17:43,000 Speaker 3: two thousand and one press release from NASA JPL that 299 00:17:43,200 --> 00:17:48,439 Speaker 3: included an interview with a JPL volcanologist named doctor Rosalie Lopez, 300 00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:52,119 Speaker 3: and she says a number of really interesting things in 301 00:17:52,160 --> 00:17:56,040 Speaker 3: this little interview. One of them comes back to that 302 00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:00,080 Speaker 3: sort of designation that people have of Io as the 303 00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:04,440 Speaker 3: most volcanic body in the Solar System. She stresses that 304 00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:09,439 Speaker 3: this is not because Io has the most volcanoes, as in, like, 305 00:18:09,480 --> 00:18:12,080 Speaker 3: you count up all the volcanoes and it has the most. 306 00:18:12,600 --> 00:18:15,520 Speaker 3: Because I actually checked, this Earth has more volcanoes total. 307 00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:19,800 Speaker 3: Earth has more than Io does, but Earth is also larger. 308 00:18:19,840 --> 00:18:24,000 Speaker 3: Of course, the reason that scientists call Io the most 309 00:18:24,080 --> 00:18:27,760 Speaker 3: volcanic body in the Solar System is that its volcanoes 310 00:18:27,840 --> 00:18:31,680 Speaker 3: put out the most total heat. So it's the most 311 00:18:31,840 --> 00:18:36,119 Speaker 3: volcanic because it's a question of total energy released. Io 312 00:18:36,320 --> 00:18:39,439 Speaker 3: is only about one third the size of Earth, but 313 00:18:39,520 --> 00:18:42,520 Speaker 3: it puts out like double the heat of Earth from 314 00:18:42,520 --> 00:18:48,560 Speaker 3: its volcanoes. And Lopez notes that one single volcano on Io, 315 00:18:48,640 --> 00:18:52,840 Speaker 3: known as Loki, is more powerful than every volcano on 316 00:18:52,960 --> 00:18:57,920 Speaker 3: Earth put together. Now, another interesting part in this exchange 317 00:18:57,920 --> 00:19:00,960 Speaker 3: is that the interviewer asks Lopez whether the volcanoes on 318 00:19:01,040 --> 00:19:03,840 Speaker 3: Io would be similar to volcanoes on Earth. How would 319 00:19:03,840 --> 00:19:07,800 Speaker 3: they be similar? How would they be different? And Lopez says, quote, 320 00:19:07,840 --> 00:19:10,760 Speaker 3: the types of eruptions we've observed on Io are similar 321 00:19:10,800 --> 00:19:14,840 Speaker 3: to types of eruptions on Earth. Lava flows, calderas, fire 322 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:18,639 Speaker 3: fountains like in Hawaii. But there are some very different aspects. 323 00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:22,680 Speaker 3: One is that lava on Io is much hotter than 324 00:19:22,760 --> 00:19:27,080 Speaker 3: any lava that flows on Earth today. Billions of years ago, 325 00:19:27,359 --> 00:19:31,960 Speaker 3: Earth had lava that hot. Another difference is that the calderas, 326 00:19:32,040 --> 00:19:35,919 Speaker 3: the volcanic craters on Io are much larger, than on Earth. 327 00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:40,040 Speaker 3: Lava flows are much larger too, and then she cites 328 00:19:40,080 --> 00:19:44,720 Speaker 3: a volcano on Io named Amirani that has a lava 329 00:19:44,760 --> 00:19:48,399 Speaker 3: flow going three hundred kilometers long or about one hundred 330 00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:51,639 Speaker 3: and ninety miles. She of course notes that that's longer 331 00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:54,640 Speaker 3: than any known lava flow on Earth, but I looked 332 00:19:54,720 --> 00:19:57,399 Speaker 3: up something to try to find a comparison. Three hundred 333 00:19:57,440 --> 00:20:00,359 Speaker 3: kilometers is roughly the distance from New York to Providence, 334 00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:04,440 Speaker 3: Rhode Island, So just imagine an active lava flow that long. 335 00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:08,000 Speaker 3: And then finally, in this answer, she notes that io 336 00:20:08,560 --> 00:20:11,880 Speaker 3: eruptions on Io produce like one hundred times as much 337 00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:15,600 Speaker 3: molten lava per year as eruptions on Earth. And that's 338 00:20:15,760 --> 00:20:18,400 Speaker 3: counting up all of the erupting volcanoes on Earth, even 339 00:20:18,440 --> 00:20:21,640 Speaker 3: the ones under the sea. So that's all amazing. I'm 340 00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:25,199 Speaker 3: especially fascinated by the idea that Earth used to have 341 00:20:25,320 --> 00:20:28,320 Speaker 3: hotter lava, Like we're kind of in decline and our 342 00:20:28,359 --> 00:20:31,000 Speaker 3: planets just like we can't put out lava like we 343 00:20:31,119 --> 00:20:35,200 Speaker 3: used to. But if you take all that together, think 344 00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:38,920 Speaker 3: about like the massive number of erupting volcanoes on Io, 345 00:20:39,160 --> 00:20:42,520 Speaker 3: how much heat they put out, and just like what 346 00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:46,680 Speaker 3: a in some ways boiling world. This is that might 347 00:20:46,840 --> 00:20:50,840 Speaker 3: paint a picture of a hothouse, a sort of planetary 348 00:20:50,960 --> 00:20:54,800 Speaker 3: hell world like Venus, but actually that would not be 349 00:20:54,960 --> 00:20:57,119 Speaker 3: accurate if you're trying to imagine what it's like on 350 00:20:57,200 --> 00:21:01,480 Speaker 3: the surface of Io. Because the apage surface temperature of 351 00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:07,040 Speaker 3: Io is extremely cold. Io has a very thin atmosphere, 352 00:21:07,200 --> 00:21:12,480 Speaker 3: extremely thin sulfur dioxide atmosphere, too thin to trap heat effectively, 353 00:21:12,600 --> 00:21:14,920 Speaker 3: and that's you know, one reason Venus is so hot. 354 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:17,399 Speaker 3: It's it's because it's got a very thick atmosphere that 355 00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:21,879 Speaker 3: traps heat within the atmosphere. Io does not have that. 356 00:21:22,359 --> 00:21:26,359 Speaker 3: So while it's got these super you know, extremely hot 357 00:21:26,440 --> 00:21:29,280 Speaker 3: hot spots where the volcanoes are erupting or the lava 358 00:21:29,320 --> 00:21:31,200 Speaker 3: flows are taking place. You might have a lake of 359 00:21:31,320 --> 00:21:35,080 Speaker 3: lava that's you know, going to be incredibly hot. Most 360 00:21:35,320 --> 00:21:38,159 Speaker 3: of the Moon is very cold, with an average surface 361 00:21:38,200 --> 00:21:41,320 Speaker 3: temperature of negative one hundred and thirty degrees celsius or 362 00:21:41,359 --> 00:21:44,840 Speaker 3: negative two two fahrenheit, So astronomers sometimes call it a 363 00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:47,680 Speaker 3: like a world of fire and ice. It's a place 364 00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:52,119 Speaker 3: where you have these these gigantic, massive erupting volcanoes and 365 00:21:52,560 --> 00:21:56,200 Speaker 3: giant long lava flows, you know, going New York to Providence, 366 00:21:56,280 --> 00:21:59,000 Speaker 3: Rhode Island. But at the same time you'll have these 367 00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:03,440 Speaker 3: almost whimsic frisky ice world conditions. For example, I mentioned 368 00:22:03,480 --> 00:22:06,359 Speaker 3: the fact that Io has this very thin atmosphere of 369 00:22:06,600 --> 00:22:11,120 Speaker 3: mostly sulfur dioxide. Some of that sulfur dioxide comes directly 370 00:22:11,240 --> 00:22:15,320 Speaker 3: from volcanic eruptions venting screaming hot sulfur from below, but 371 00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:20,400 Speaker 3: the other half comes from the gradual evaporation or technically 372 00:22:20,640 --> 00:22:25,960 Speaker 3: sublimation of vast fields of sulfurous ice already on the 373 00:22:26,040 --> 00:22:29,240 Speaker 3: planet's surface. So there's a pattern that goes like this. 374 00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:34,439 Speaker 3: The volcanoes erupt and they shoot sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere. 375 00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:38,639 Speaker 3: It floats around. Then, once every forty two hours or so, 376 00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:44,119 Speaker 3: Io passes briefly into Jupiter's shadow, so it becomes eclipsed 377 00:22:44,200 --> 00:22:47,520 Speaker 3: and all sunlight is blocked, and this causes the surface 378 00:22:47,560 --> 00:22:50,680 Speaker 3: temperature to drop even further. It causes the Moon to 379 00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:54,679 Speaker 3: temporarily go into a deep cold cold enough to actually 380 00:22:54,800 --> 00:22:58,960 Speaker 3: cause the lower SO two atmosphere level to freeze and 381 00:22:59,119 --> 00:23:02,600 Speaker 3: fall to the surface. Then, when I emerges from its 382 00:23:02,640 --> 00:23:06,520 Speaker 3: eclipse and comes back into the sunlight, the frozen planes 383 00:23:06,560 --> 00:23:10,200 Speaker 3: of sulfur snow start to warm up and sublimate into 384 00:23:10,440 --> 00:23:13,720 Speaker 3: gas once again, which becomes part of the tenuous atmosphere. 385 00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:16,120 Speaker 3: So there's a lot more we'll have to get into 386 00:23:16,760 --> 00:23:19,560 Speaker 3: about the Moon, but just starting with this portrait, this 387 00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:22,160 Speaker 3: sketch here, I really would make the case for Io 388 00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:25,520 Speaker 3: as one of the most interesting places in the Solar System, 389 00:23:25,720 --> 00:23:29,560 Speaker 3: you know, beyond Earth, of one of the most challenging 390 00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:34,800 Speaker 3: and strange and dramatic and fascinating places in all of space. 391 00:23:35,480 --> 00:23:38,960 Speaker 2: Absolutely. Yeah, the closer you look at it than the 392 00:23:39,080 --> 00:23:40,840 Speaker 2: more amazing details there are. 393 00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:44,160 Speaker 3: Now, speaking of dramatic landscapes, I did want to mention 394 00:23:44,359 --> 00:23:46,840 Speaker 3: one more of the images that really got me interested 395 00:23:46,920 --> 00:23:50,200 Speaker 3: in doing the series of episodes. This one actually is 396 00:23:50,840 --> 00:23:54,920 Speaker 3: less a I think, less directly a photograph and more 397 00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:57,879 Speaker 3: kind of an image generated based on It was like 398 00:23:57,920 --> 00:24:01,280 Speaker 3: a three D image that's like an artist concept based 399 00:24:01,440 --> 00:24:05,560 Speaker 3: on data from Juno's Junokam instrument. So it's not just 400 00:24:05,680 --> 00:24:07,520 Speaker 3: made up like it is based on data they took 401 00:24:07,560 --> 00:24:09,520 Speaker 3: from the surface. But it's like a generated three D 402 00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:14,880 Speaker 3: image and it's of iOS steeple mountain that's worth looking 403 00:24:14,960 --> 00:24:18,280 Speaker 3: up at home, folks. It's this mountain that comes up 404 00:24:18,280 --> 00:24:20,840 Speaker 3: out of the surface like a blade. It's just like 405 00:24:21,119 --> 00:24:24,480 Speaker 3: so sharp, and then has the spires reaching up from 406 00:24:24,560 --> 00:24:28,399 Speaker 3: the top of it. And so if you look this up, 407 00:24:28,560 --> 00:24:31,840 Speaker 3: there are sort of animations you can find online where 408 00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:35,479 Speaker 3: the perspective goes around the mountain to sea from its 409 00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:40,160 Speaker 3: day side into its night side and shadow. And it's Oh, 410 00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:44,399 Speaker 3: it's very haunting, especially because it has a strong, lonely 411 00:24:44,560 --> 00:24:47,800 Speaker 3: mountain energy. It's not part of a mountain range. It's 412 00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:51,760 Speaker 3: just one giant blade of mountain raising up out of 413 00:24:51,800 --> 00:24:53,919 Speaker 3: an otherwise relatively flat plane. 414 00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:58,240 Speaker 2: Yeah, with these two spires, one has the appearance of 415 00:24:58,280 --> 00:25:01,639 Speaker 2: being broken. Reminds me of the the horns of Golgadaath, 416 00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:06,800 Speaker 2: two horns coming up out of the ruined earth. So yeah, 417 00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:08,400 Speaker 2: it's pretty evocative. 418 00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:11,560 Speaker 3: But Io is actually full of these strange and gorgeous 419 00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:15,400 Speaker 3: surface features, both the ones that rise and the ones 420 00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:15,960 Speaker 3: that sink. 421 00:25:16,320 --> 00:25:21,800 Speaker 2: That's right. Another interesting feature is Boa Sali Monts. This 422 00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:26,480 Speaker 2: apparently stands as the tallest known peak on Io, standing 423 00:25:26,560 --> 00:25:30,560 Speaker 2: between seventeen point five kilometers that's ten point nine miles 424 00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:34,000 Speaker 2: and eighteen point two kilometers are eleven point three miles 425 00:25:34,040 --> 00:25:39,880 Speaker 2: in height. It is named for the cave where we'll 426 00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:42,880 Speaker 2: get into this. The Greek mythological figure Io is said 427 00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:45,480 Speaker 2: to have given birth to her son. We'll get into 428 00:25:45,520 --> 00:25:49,760 Speaker 2: all that in a bit. And Boa salle means cowpin 429 00:25:50,680 --> 00:25:54,520 Speaker 2: will also get into what that means how cows feature 430 00:25:54,520 --> 00:25:58,640 Speaker 2: into this mythology. But it is the third tallest known 431 00:25:58,680 --> 00:26:04,359 Speaker 2: mountain ridge in our soul system, behind only Olympus monds 432 00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:08,320 Speaker 2: on Mars, which is the tallest, and the equatorial ridge 433 00:26:08,760 --> 00:26:10,760 Speaker 2: on the Saturn nine moon Iapetus. 434 00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:14,760 Speaker 3: Oh yeah, the big spine in the middle of the Appetus. 435 00:26:14,840 --> 00:26:15,720 Speaker 3: That was good. 436 00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:18,240 Speaker 2: Let's see there are a number There are a number 437 00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:22,399 Speaker 2: of other mountains mountains. The mountains on Io have all 438 00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:25,520 Speaker 2: sorts of names, some related, some related to Dante's Inferno, 439 00:26:25,760 --> 00:26:30,119 Speaker 2: some related to other mythological traditions. But there are at 440 00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:33,400 Speaker 2: least four other ones that have names that are related 441 00:26:34,119 --> 00:26:36,000 Speaker 2: to the myth of Io that will get into in 442 00:26:36,080 --> 00:26:40,800 Speaker 2: a bit. There's Argos Planum, named for the land of 443 00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:46,440 Speaker 2: Io's father. There's Epaphus Mensa, named for Io's son, There's 444 00:26:46,520 --> 00:26:50,600 Speaker 2: Hermes Mensa. You'll find out how Hermes factors into everything, 445 00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:56,440 Speaker 2: and then there's Innachius Tholus, name for Io's father. Now, 446 00:26:56,560 --> 00:27:01,040 Speaker 2: you mentioned Loki earlier. This is an of course, the 447 00:27:01,160 --> 00:27:05,560 Speaker 2: namesake is the Norse god Loki, and rather than a mountain, 448 00:27:05,680 --> 00:27:08,720 Speaker 2: it is, of course a great volcanic depression with a 449 00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:12,240 Speaker 2: lake of magma in it. This is a Loki patera. 450 00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:16,399 Speaker 2: As described by the JPL website, this is one hundred 451 00:27:16,400 --> 00:27:19,000 Speaker 2: and twenty four mile long or two hundred kilometer long 452 00:27:19,119 --> 00:27:23,280 Speaker 2: lake filled with magna, rimmed with hot lava, and dotted 453 00:27:23,359 --> 00:27:27,200 Speaker 2: with islands, but with one like huge island in the 454 00:27:27,280 --> 00:27:31,600 Speaker 2: middle of it. And they stress on the JPL website 455 00:27:31,760 --> 00:27:33,800 Speaker 2: that this large island in the lake does not have 456 00:27:33,880 --> 00:27:37,600 Speaker 2: a name, which I think only intensifies the feeling that 457 00:27:37,720 --> 00:27:39,680 Speaker 2: either a it does have some sort of name and 458 00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:43,200 Speaker 2: you just can't say it, or that there is some 459 00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:47,040 Speaker 2: sort of unholy castle there. You know, the island in 460 00:27:47,080 --> 00:27:49,240 Speaker 2: the lake of magma that cannot be named. 461 00:27:49,560 --> 00:27:52,000 Speaker 3: Do not ask after its name, for it has none. 462 00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:55,280 Speaker 2: Yeah, but if they're looking for a name, I'm thinking, well, okay, 463 00:27:55,440 --> 00:27:58,600 Speaker 2: if the area is named for Loki and it's within Loki, 464 00:27:58,960 --> 00:28:01,320 Speaker 2: will name it after one of the monsters that Loki 465 00:28:01,440 --> 00:28:03,000 Speaker 2: gives birth to. I mean, you have, like I think, 466 00:28:03,080 --> 00:28:06,000 Speaker 2: four good ones to choose from there's Hell, there's yormagand 467 00:28:06,280 --> 00:28:09,280 Speaker 2: there's fin Rear, and there's slept Near. But hey, I'm 468 00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:12,800 Speaker 2: no astronomer. Those names may be taken already now. They 469 00:28:12,840 --> 00:28:18,679 Speaker 2: also add that there were reflective aspects to the Loki 470 00:28:18,800 --> 00:28:22,840 Speaker 2: Petera during the Juno flyover, suggesting that its surface was 471 00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:27,280 Speaker 2: as smooth as glass. Now, perhaps smooth as glass in 472 00:28:27,320 --> 00:28:31,240 Speaker 2: these passes, but also food for thought. There's a previous 473 00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:35,440 Speaker 2: twenty seventeen analysis that turned up infrared data that suggested 474 00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:38,760 Speaker 2: that the temperature of the lava lake steadily increased from 475 00:28:38,800 --> 00:28:43,480 Speaker 2: one end to the other, suggesting overturning waves. Overturning lava 476 00:28:43,720 --> 00:28:47,720 Speaker 2: is a popular explanation for fluctuations in the Moon's apparent brightness, 477 00:28:48,240 --> 00:28:51,280 Speaker 2: with brightenings occurring every four hundred to six hundred days. 478 00:28:51,560 --> 00:28:54,320 Speaker 2: Another explanation is that it's due to just regular volcanic 479 00:28:54,480 --> 00:28:57,560 Speaker 2: eruptions that spike the brightness of the Moon. 480 00:28:58,480 --> 00:29:01,280 Speaker 3: I wonder if that's related to different from what Sagan 481 00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:04,680 Speaker 3: brought up about the changes in like the radar reflectivity 482 00:29:04,760 --> 00:29:06,440 Speaker 3: of the of the moon over time. 483 00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:10,160 Speaker 2: I think it's related. That's my understanding, and I am 484 00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:14,200 Speaker 2: for you, Joe. Others can look this up as of publication. 485 00:29:14,320 --> 00:29:17,760 Speaker 2: It's certainly on the JPL website. You can see a 486 00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:21,120 Speaker 2: computer generated image of what this lake would look like, 487 00:29:22,480 --> 00:29:25,320 Speaker 2: and it's this is from like a short computer animated 488 00:29:25,400 --> 00:29:27,680 Speaker 2: video that kind of like zooms in on it, and 489 00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:31,480 Speaker 2: it's it's I like this image because it's it's maybe 490 00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:35,440 Speaker 2: not one hundred percent blockbuster CGI. It feels a little 491 00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:39,280 Speaker 2: you know, mind's eye to me. And also the magma 492 00:29:39,440 --> 00:29:43,280 Speaker 2: in the lake has the coloration of like deep crimson blood, 493 00:29:44,200 --> 00:29:48,480 Speaker 2: which of course only intensifies the the unholy qualities of 494 00:29:48,560 --> 00:29:50,360 Speaker 2: this place. This is just fitting. 495 00:29:50,520 --> 00:29:53,560 Speaker 3: Something seems very beyond the mind's eye about Io. It's 496 00:29:53,600 --> 00:29:55,600 Speaker 3: a place where if I went there, I would expect 497 00:29:55,640 --> 00:29:58,840 Speaker 3: to be seeing like you know, those nude early nineties 498 00:29:58,920 --> 00:30:02,040 Speaker 3: CGI figure is kind embracing and then melting into each 499 00:30:02,080 --> 00:30:03,479 Speaker 3: other and then turning into bats. 500 00:30:03,760 --> 00:30:07,400 Speaker 2: Yeah. All to a nice Jon Hammer soundtrack for sure, 501 00:30:07,760 --> 00:30:20,800 Speaker 2: too far? Take it easy, all right? Well, shall we 502 00:30:20,880 --> 00:30:23,400 Speaker 2: get into the mythology of Io a bit? Oh? 503 00:30:23,560 --> 00:30:24,160 Speaker 3: Absolutely? 504 00:30:24,760 --> 00:30:29,880 Speaker 2: Now, we mentioned already about the discovery of Jupiter's moon Io, 505 00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:34,600 Speaker 2: and we mentioned the discovery sixteen to ten by Italian 506 00:30:34,680 --> 00:30:38,520 Speaker 2: astronomer or Galileo. However, there is also a case to 507 00:30:38,600 --> 00:30:41,920 Speaker 2: be made, and it was made by him, specifically that 508 00:30:42,040 --> 00:30:48,360 Speaker 2: German astronomer Simon Marius discovered it independently or instead of depending. 509 00:30:48,720 --> 00:30:49,640 Speaker 2: He's making the argument. 510 00:30:49,960 --> 00:30:51,959 Speaker 3: I think I've read that it was said like they 511 00:30:52,040 --> 00:30:53,920 Speaker 3: probably discovered it around the same time. 512 00:30:54,240 --> 00:30:58,120 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, but Marius is often credited with naming the 513 00:30:58,240 --> 00:31:03,120 Speaker 2: moon after the Greek mythological your Io, who is fittingly 514 00:31:03,160 --> 00:31:08,640 Speaker 2: associated with Zeus aka Jupiter in Roman traditions. Now, if 515 00:31:08,680 --> 00:31:13,400 Speaker 2: you're not familiar with Simon Marius, do look. Do go 516 00:31:13,440 --> 00:31:15,880 Speaker 2: to the Wikipedia page about him, if nothing else, just 517 00:31:15,960 --> 00:31:19,800 Speaker 2: to see this wonderful illustration of the man. This is 518 00:31:19,840 --> 00:31:24,080 Speaker 2: an engraving of Marius in his own book Mundus Lovialis 519 00:31:24,400 --> 00:31:28,040 Speaker 2: the World of Jupiter from sixteen fourteen. He looks like 520 00:31:28,280 --> 00:31:31,360 Speaker 2: a dashing necromancer in this shot. 521 00:31:31,720 --> 00:31:37,400 Speaker 3: Yes, yes, warlock, infernal packed warlock. Actually, though he looks 522 00:31:37,480 --> 00:31:39,760 Speaker 3: a bit this is gonna sound funny. He looks a 523 00:31:39,800 --> 00:31:43,960 Speaker 3: bit like Galileo. Yeah, he's got a similar kind of face, 524 00:31:44,080 --> 00:31:47,160 Speaker 3: a similar kind of eyes and scowl, and a similar beard. 525 00:31:48,160 --> 00:31:49,800 Speaker 3: He's like warlock Galileo. 526 00:31:50,520 --> 00:31:53,160 Speaker 2: Look at that collar though, such an amazing collar packed 527 00:31:53,200 --> 00:31:55,680 Speaker 2: of the lens. All right, So what is the myth 528 00:31:55,880 --> 00:31:58,800 Speaker 2: of Io. Well, the basic story, as it is usually told, 529 00:31:59,240 --> 00:32:03,240 Speaker 2: is as follows. Io was the mortal daughter of Anachus, 530 00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:09,040 Speaker 2: the river god of Argos, and the oceanid Melia, herself 531 00:32:09,160 --> 00:32:13,800 Speaker 2: the daughter of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys. The exact 532 00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:19,240 Speaker 2: number varies, but Io had many sisters, and Anachus also 533 00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:22,480 Speaker 2: is also referenced in mythology as the first king of Argos, 534 00:32:22,600 --> 00:32:27,520 Speaker 2: which is an ancient city in Greece. So the story 535 00:32:27,600 --> 00:32:30,400 Speaker 2: goes that Io served as the high priestess of Hera, 536 00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:33,800 Speaker 2: who is of course the wife of the high king 537 00:32:33,880 --> 00:32:36,640 Speaker 2: of the god Zeus. But the king of the gods 538 00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:39,720 Speaker 2: was of course ever lustful, to put it mildly, and 539 00:32:40,080 --> 00:32:45,080 Speaker 2: soon came to desire Io. Now the story the tellings 540 00:32:45,120 --> 00:32:47,080 Speaker 2: of this tale vary, but at the very least he 541 00:32:47,200 --> 00:32:50,760 Speaker 2: became enamored with her, and some accounts describe his feelings 542 00:32:50,840 --> 00:32:54,720 Speaker 2: for her as love. Avid in the Metamorphosis describes the 543 00:32:54,840 --> 00:32:58,560 Speaker 2: encounter in more threatening and ultimately violent terms. I'm going 544 00:32:58,600 --> 00:33:02,200 Speaker 2: to read from the Henry t Riley translation. Jupiter had 545 00:33:02,240 --> 00:33:05,240 Speaker 2: seen Io as she was returning from her father's stream, 546 00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:08,920 Speaker 2: and had said, O maid worthy of Jove and destined 547 00:33:08,920 --> 00:33:11,440 Speaker 2: to make I know not whom happy in thy marriage, 548 00:33:11,920 --> 00:33:14,560 Speaker 2: repair to the shades of this lofty grove. And he 549 00:33:14,680 --> 00:33:17,880 Speaker 2: pointed at the shade of the grove, while it is warm, 550 00:33:18,160 --> 00:33:20,600 Speaker 2: and while the sun is at his height, in the 551 00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:23,840 Speaker 2: midst of his course. But if thou art afraid to 552 00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:27,320 Speaker 2: enter the lonely abodes of the wild beasts alone, thou 553 00:33:27,400 --> 00:33:30,840 Speaker 2: shalt enter the recesses of the groves, safe under the 554 00:33:30,880 --> 00:33:33,680 Speaker 2: protection of a god, and that a god of no 555 00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:37,440 Speaker 2: common sort. But with me, who hold the scepter of 556 00:33:37,560 --> 00:33:41,680 Speaker 2: heaven in my powerful hand, me who hurl the wandering lightnings, 557 00:33:42,040 --> 00:33:44,760 Speaker 2: do not fly from me. For now she was flying, 558 00:33:45,200 --> 00:33:47,800 Speaker 2: and now she had left behind the pastures of Lerna 559 00:33:48,200 --> 00:33:51,680 Speaker 2: and the Lsayan plains planted with trees, when the God 560 00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:55,320 Speaker 2: covered the earth far and wide with darkness overspreading, and 561 00:33:55,480 --> 00:33:59,760 Speaker 2: arrested her flight and forced her modesty. So to be clear, 562 00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:04,280 Speaker 2: what Avid is describing here is supernatural pursuit and sexual assault. 563 00:34:04,920 --> 00:34:07,520 Speaker 3: Yeah, from what I've read, I think some versions of 564 00:34:07,560 --> 00:34:10,080 Speaker 3: the story describe it as a kind of seduction. Other 565 00:34:10,239 --> 00:34:14,040 Speaker 3: versions describe it as a rape. In this version, I mean, 566 00:34:14,160 --> 00:34:16,759 Speaker 3: either way, we're seeing something that we see a lot 567 00:34:16,840 --> 00:34:18,759 Speaker 3: of Zeus doing in Greek mythology. 568 00:34:19,280 --> 00:34:21,520 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, and again it does vary with the tellings. 569 00:34:21,520 --> 00:34:25,040 Speaker 2: I believe there's at least one version where he ultimately 570 00:34:25,080 --> 00:34:28,400 Speaker 2: impregnates her by just touching her with his hand. So, 571 00:34:28,840 --> 00:34:32,480 Speaker 2: as is generally the case, there's no real canon with mythology. 572 00:34:32,560 --> 00:34:34,759 Speaker 2: There are just the more popularized versions of the tale, 573 00:34:34,840 --> 00:34:38,520 Speaker 2: and sometimes those are very much connected to Avid's work 574 00:34:38,560 --> 00:34:44,239 Speaker 2: in the Metamorphosis. So after this has occurred, Zeus transforms 575 00:34:44,239 --> 00:34:47,440 Speaker 2: Io into a cow, a white heifer, in order to 576 00:34:47,600 --> 00:34:51,040 Speaker 2: hide her and his own transgressions from his wife Harah, 577 00:34:51,680 --> 00:34:54,279 Speaker 2: because of course, of course, Harah is too wise for 578 00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:56,479 Speaker 2: any of this, and she knows her husband too well, 579 00:34:57,200 --> 00:34:59,920 Speaker 2: so she almost immediately shows up and begins asking qu 580 00:35:00,040 --> 00:35:03,200 Speaker 2: questions about this beautiful white cow that Zeus is suddenly 581 00:35:03,280 --> 00:35:07,880 Speaker 2: hanging out with, and Ovid writes quote, Jupiter falsely asserts 582 00:35:08,120 --> 00:35:10,320 Speaker 2: that it was produced out of the earth and that 583 00:35:10,400 --> 00:35:14,280 Speaker 2: the owner may cease to be inquired after which, despite 584 00:35:14,320 --> 00:35:16,759 Speaker 2: the horror of the situation setting this up, this line 585 00:35:16,760 --> 00:35:19,319 Speaker 2: has a certain dry comedy to it, and I wonder 586 00:35:19,320 --> 00:35:21,360 Speaker 2: if that was at present in the original writing, or 587 00:35:21,360 --> 00:35:23,040 Speaker 2: if this is like an artifact of translation. 588 00:35:23,360 --> 00:35:26,120 Speaker 3: I read that same line that it was produced out 589 00:35:26,160 --> 00:35:28,600 Speaker 3: of the earth. Yeah, this cow just kind of grew 590 00:35:28,680 --> 00:35:33,120 Speaker 3: out of the ground. That happens sometimes, so he's trying 591 00:35:33,120 --> 00:35:33,640 Speaker 3: to get out of it. 592 00:35:33,719 --> 00:35:36,640 Speaker 2: But Hara, she knows what's up, and so she requests 593 00:35:36,680 --> 00:35:39,120 Speaker 2: this beautiful cow as a gift, and Zeus has no 594 00:35:39,280 --> 00:35:41,759 Speaker 2: choice but to comply, because if he says no, well 595 00:35:41,960 --> 00:35:45,320 Speaker 2: then he's admitting that this is no mere cow. And 596 00:35:46,040 --> 00:35:48,400 Speaker 2: if he just gives it up, well then you know, 597 00:35:48,840 --> 00:35:51,719 Speaker 2: they both know what's going on here. And so he 598 00:35:51,840 --> 00:35:54,480 Speaker 2: gives the cow up to Hara, and Harah entrusts the 599 00:35:54,520 --> 00:35:57,399 Speaker 2: white effort to the protection of the one hundred eyed 600 00:35:57,560 --> 00:36:03,359 Speaker 2: giant Argos panoptis, the all seeing and there are different 601 00:36:03,440 --> 00:36:07,120 Speaker 2: depictions of what Argus looks like. Sometimes he's depicted as 602 00:36:07,160 --> 00:36:10,880 Speaker 2: a giant with eyes all over his body. Other times 603 00:36:10,960 --> 00:36:13,880 Speaker 2: he's depicted as a humanoid or you know, with no 604 00:36:14,160 --> 00:36:16,600 Speaker 2: special features, or as a humanoid with a bunch of 605 00:36:16,719 --> 00:36:20,839 Speaker 2: eyes on or in his head, and in either event, 606 00:36:20,960 --> 00:36:23,680 Speaker 2: not to be confused with Argos. The place that we 607 00:36:23,800 --> 00:36:27,200 Speaker 2: mentioned earlier, this is Argus. So the basic idea is 608 00:36:28,280 --> 00:36:30,960 Speaker 2: Zeus cannot come and get his cow back at this 609 00:36:31,120 --> 00:36:34,279 Speaker 2: point because there is an all seeing giant that is 610 00:36:34,400 --> 00:36:37,200 Speaker 2: watching it at all the time. Sitting on the top 611 00:36:37,239 --> 00:36:39,919 Speaker 2: of a mountain, he can see in all directions at once. 612 00:36:40,480 --> 00:36:43,480 Speaker 2: Nothing is getting past him. And yes, Zeus is king 613 00:36:43,560 --> 00:36:46,319 Speaker 2: of the gods. But I think the idea is that, yes, 614 00:36:46,440 --> 00:36:49,719 Speaker 2: Zeus is all powerful, but if he actually shows up 615 00:36:49,880 --> 00:36:52,759 Speaker 2: to claim the white heffer, then the gig is up 616 00:36:52,800 --> 00:36:55,680 Speaker 2: and he is almost has to admit defeat. 617 00:36:56,120 --> 00:36:59,960 Speaker 3: Yeah, Haro will find out exactly now. 618 00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:02,560 Speaker 2: Now, in the midst of all this, it is said 619 00:37:02,600 --> 00:37:07,600 Speaker 2: that Io is suffering the metamorphosis here is quite miserable 620 00:37:07,719 --> 00:37:10,239 Speaker 2: the way Ava describes it. She has to live as 621 00:37:10,280 --> 00:37:13,360 Speaker 2: an animal, not mistreated by the all seeing giant, but 622 00:37:13,400 --> 00:37:17,280 Speaker 2: also not well loved either, making matters all the more traumatic. 623 00:37:17,640 --> 00:37:21,080 Speaker 2: When she wanders close to the water, which is described 624 00:37:21,080 --> 00:37:24,680 Speaker 2: as the water off her father, her own father and 625 00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:28,080 Speaker 2: her various sisters do not recognize her, at least not 626 00:37:28,200 --> 00:37:31,920 Speaker 2: at first. They see only the white heifer, and eventually 627 00:37:32,120 --> 00:37:37,400 Speaker 2: her father recognizes her and its heartbreaking. And there are 628 00:37:37,600 --> 00:37:41,680 Speaker 2: numerous paintings that explore this scene with like an old 629 00:37:41,760 --> 00:37:46,799 Speaker 2: man having this heart breaking encounter with a white cow. Oh. 630 00:37:46,920 --> 00:37:49,400 Speaker 3: Yeah, so I was trying to tell if that was 631 00:37:49,480 --> 00:37:52,759 Speaker 3: one of the things depicted in there's a painting of 632 00:37:53,320 --> 00:37:55,200 Speaker 3: the second half of this myth that I put in 633 00:37:55,280 --> 00:37:59,480 Speaker 3: our outline by Bartolomeo di Giovanni, who is an Italian 634 00:37:59,560 --> 00:38:03,760 Speaker 3: painter like the end of the fifteenth century. This painting 635 00:38:03,840 --> 00:38:05,880 Speaker 3: is called the Myth of Io, and it's showing a 636 00:38:05,920 --> 00:38:08,120 Speaker 3: bunch of different scenes from it, though we really do 637 00:38:08,320 --> 00:38:11,120 Speaker 3: not get much of a hundred eyed giant in this. Instead, 638 00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:13,720 Speaker 3: Argust just looks like he's like a shepherd. 639 00:38:14,080 --> 00:38:17,279 Speaker 2: Yeah. Sometimes he's just a dude. Other times he's this 640 00:38:17,520 --> 00:38:20,320 Speaker 2: like weird psychedelic giant with eyes all over his body. 641 00:38:20,400 --> 00:38:21,320 Speaker 2: So it just varies. 642 00:38:21,719 --> 00:38:24,279 Speaker 3: But we do see the heifer at various places, at 643 00:38:24,320 --> 00:38:26,480 Speaker 3: one point near the water's edge, so I can't tell 644 00:38:26,520 --> 00:38:29,000 Speaker 3: if that's the part of the myth that's being depicted here. 645 00:38:29,600 --> 00:38:32,880 Speaker 2: This story of like transformation and loved ones not recognized 646 00:38:32,920 --> 00:38:35,920 Speaker 2: you recognizing you in your transformed state reminds me of 647 00:38:36,200 --> 00:38:39,399 Speaker 2: a children's book that came out in nineteen sixty nine 648 00:38:39,960 --> 00:38:42,400 Speaker 2: called Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. Are you familiar with 649 00:38:42,480 --> 00:38:43,040 Speaker 2: this one? Joe? 650 00:38:45,200 --> 00:38:48,239 Speaker 3: Sounds vaguely familiar, but we don't like read this one 651 00:38:48,320 --> 00:38:49,000 Speaker 3: in the house. 652 00:38:48,840 --> 00:38:50,640 Speaker 2: So okay, well, you might have picked up at some 653 00:38:50,719 --> 00:38:53,280 Speaker 2: point because it's heartbreaking as well. It has a magical 654 00:38:53,320 --> 00:38:58,120 Speaker 2: transformation and parents not recognizing their own child in a 655 00:38:58,200 --> 00:39:01,360 Speaker 2: transformed state. But it's a great book. Well, you know, 656 00:39:01,440 --> 00:39:05,359 Speaker 2: won a number of awards, won the Calvacott Metal back 657 00:39:05,360 --> 00:39:06,200 Speaker 2: in nineteen seventy. 658 00:39:06,520 --> 00:39:08,239 Speaker 3: I'll look it up. But okay, so we're in a 659 00:39:08,320 --> 00:39:11,719 Speaker 3: really sad place in the middle of this myth, right right, I. 660 00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:16,839 Speaker 2: Was in a terrible place Zeus. Sometimes it's described as 661 00:39:16,880 --> 00:39:19,719 Speaker 2: if he finds this heart breaking as well, but at 662 00:39:20,040 --> 00:39:24,000 Speaker 2: the very least he tires of being controlled. And what 663 00:39:24,080 --> 00:39:26,480 Speaker 2: does he do? Well, he can't show himself, apparently, so 664 00:39:26,600 --> 00:39:29,480 Speaker 2: he sends Hermes to simply. 665 00:39:29,360 --> 00:39:32,960 Speaker 3: Murder Argus Mercury the hit man here. 666 00:39:33,040 --> 00:39:37,480 Speaker 2: Yes, yes, the harbinger of the gods here, the messenger 667 00:39:37,520 --> 00:39:41,080 Speaker 2: of the gods this time shows up with his Caduceius 668 00:39:41,360 --> 00:39:43,600 Speaker 2: to put the giant to sleep and then slays him 669 00:39:43,640 --> 00:39:46,600 Speaker 2: with the sword and the eyes of Argus then go 670 00:39:46,760 --> 00:39:49,799 Speaker 2: to the tail of the peacock, a symbol of Hara. Oh. 671 00:39:49,960 --> 00:39:50,440 Speaker 3: Interesting. 672 00:39:50,960 --> 00:39:53,560 Speaker 2: Now at this point the white effer can wander free, 673 00:39:54,719 --> 00:39:59,480 Speaker 2: and Harrah sends a gadfly to torment her gadflies are 674 00:39:59,800 --> 00:40:04,000 Speaker 2: li stock biting flies, probably horseflies or bot flies, but 675 00:40:04,120 --> 00:40:07,760 Speaker 2: in Greek mythology they're sometimes employed by the gods elsewhere. 676 00:40:07,920 --> 00:40:10,720 Speaker 2: Zeus was once said to send one to sting Pegasus. 677 00:40:10,800 --> 00:40:15,200 Speaker 2: At one point. This was while Balerifan was riding Pegasus, 678 00:40:15,280 --> 00:40:18,840 Speaker 2: so caused him to fall out of the sky. But 679 00:40:18,960 --> 00:40:23,840 Speaker 2: don't worry. Athena then softened his fall. So anyway, Io, 680 00:40:24,160 --> 00:40:28,040 Speaker 2: in the form of the white cow, basically wanders driven 681 00:40:28,120 --> 00:40:32,360 Speaker 2: by flies sent by the gods, and eventually she is 682 00:40:32,480 --> 00:40:35,840 Speaker 2: driven to Egypt, where she resumes her human form and 683 00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:39,080 Speaker 2: gives birth to a son of Zeus in a cave. 684 00:40:39,200 --> 00:40:42,720 Speaker 2: We mentioned that earlier, and this is Epaphus, who becomes 685 00:40:42,840 --> 00:40:46,040 Speaker 2: king of Egypt, and it said founds the city of Memphis. 686 00:40:46,760 --> 00:40:49,799 Speaker 2: Avid also mentions that Io went on to marry none 687 00:40:49,840 --> 00:40:54,000 Speaker 2: other than APIs or Osiris, who after his death was 688 00:40:54,080 --> 00:40:58,560 Speaker 2: numbered among the deities of Egypt by the name Serapis. Oh. 689 00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:03,840 Speaker 3: Interesting, Yeah, for those not aware, we did serious episodes 690 00:41:03,920 --> 00:41:08,000 Speaker 3: on the Egyptian deity Osiris. When was this like last 691 00:41:08,080 --> 00:41:08,440 Speaker 3: year or the. 692 00:41:08,440 --> 00:41:11,359 Speaker 2: Year before, Yes, sometime in the last couple of years. Yeah, 693 00:41:11,800 --> 00:41:15,440 Speaker 2: And we talked about Si Rapist as a Greco Egyptian 694 00:41:16,040 --> 00:41:20,480 Speaker 2: Syncretic deity based on both of Cyrus and APIs, as 695 00:41:20,560 --> 00:41:24,239 Speaker 2: well as aspects of various other Greek deities. Under Potomaic rule, 696 00:41:25,760 --> 00:41:30,160 Speaker 2: Avid writes Io terrified and madden with dreadful visions, runs 697 00:41:30,200 --> 00:41:33,160 Speaker 2: over many regions and stops in Egypt when Juno, at 698 00:41:33,239 --> 00:41:36,400 Speaker 2: length being pacified, restores her to her former shape and 699 00:41:36,520 --> 00:41:40,359 Speaker 2: permits her to be worshiped there under the name of Isis. Wow. 700 00:41:40,480 --> 00:41:45,640 Speaker 3: Well, that is a fascinating cross cultural backstory, though not 701 00:41:45,840 --> 00:41:48,640 Speaker 3: to imply that the same backstory would actually be understood 702 00:41:48,640 --> 00:41:51,040 Speaker 3: by the people who worshiped Isis in Egypt. 703 00:41:51,400 --> 00:41:54,480 Speaker 2: Right, right, though, of course, the worship of Isis like 704 00:41:54,560 --> 00:41:56,879 Speaker 2: spreads out of Egypt, and then you know how they're 705 00:41:56,880 --> 00:41:59,200 Speaker 2: worshiping Isis in other areas, such as in Greek and 706 00:41:59,320 --> 00:42:02,920 Speaker 2: Roman times. Yeah, maybe they employ some of this, but yeah, 707 00:42:02,960 --> 00:42:06,680 Speaker 2: at this point in our telling of the myth of Io, 708 00:42:06,840 --> 00:42:09,560 Speaker 2: we can appreciate that we're talking about something that is 709 00:42:09,640 --> 00:42:13,200 Speaker 2: probably a Greek and Roman take on the Egyptian throne 710 00:42:13,239 --> 00:42:18,120 Speaker 2: goddess Isis, mother of every Egyptian king. It's worth noting 711 00:42:18,200 --> 00:42:21,520 Speaker 2: that elsewhere in Greek tradition, Isis is also associated with Demeter. 712 00:42:22,040 --> 00:42:25,240 Speaker 2: In either case, the popularity of Isis in Egypt spreads 713 00:42:25,280 --> 00:42:29,040 Speaker 2: over into Greek mythology here. Yeah, Now it can be 714 00:42:29,080 --> 00:42:30,960 Speaker 2: a little confusing though, because I was looking at other 715 00:42:31,200 --> 00:42:35,840 Speaker 2: artistic depictions of Io, and there's one that from the 716 00:42:36,000 --> 00:42:39,120 Speaker 2: first century BCE. It's a fresco from the Temple of 717 00:42:39,200 --> 00:42:44,200 Speaker 2: Isis in POMPEII that depicts Io being received by Isis 718 00:42:44,400 --> 00:42:48,560 Speaker 2: upon her arrival in Egypt. And if you can see 719 00:42:48,560 --> 00:42:50,640 Speaker 2: an image of it here Joe in our notes in 720 00:42:50,800 --> 00:42:53,600 Speaker 2: this Io actually has the horns of a cow as well. 721 00:42:54,640 --> 00:42:57,759 Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that may not square in some ways 722 00:42:57,840 --> 00:42:59,840 Speaker 3: with what we just talked about it, but that seems 723 00:42:59,840 --> 00:43:04,279 Speaker 3: to me perfectly consistent with the sort of shuffling mix 724 00:43:04,360 --> 00:43:06,520 Speaker 3: and match quality of ancient mythology. 725 00:43:06,920 --> 00:43:12,240 Speaker 2: Yeah. In Egyptomania a History of Fascination, Obsession, and Fantasy 726 00:43:12,360 --> 00:43:15,880 Speaker 2: by Ronald H. Fritz. This is the book I've cited 727 00:43:15,920 --> 00:43:18,279 Speaker 2: on the show before. The author points to the myth 728 00:43:18,320 --> 00:43:21,239 Speaker 2: of Io is one of several examples of contact and 729 00:43:21,320 --> 00:43:25,520 Speaker 2: cultural exchange between Greece and Egypt during the era of 730 00:43:25,600 --> 00:43:28,040 Speaker 2: the New Kingdom. This was between the sixteenth century BC 731 00:43:28,239 --> 00:43:33,440 Speaker 2: in the eleventh century BCE. You know, they're fairly difficult 732 00:43:33,480 --> 00:43:36,000 Speaker 2: travel between the two regions at the time, but there 733 00:43:36,120 --> 00:43:40,480 Speaker 2: was still cultural exchange and other sorts of exchange as 734 00:43:40,520 --> 00:43:41,480 Speaker 2: well well. 735 00:43:41,520 --> 00:43:46,360 Speaker 3: So it's an emotionally powerful myth with interesting cross cultural relevance. 736 00:43:47,000 --> 00:43:49,560 Speaker 3: But this does bring me back to the question of like, 737 00:43:49,840 --> 00:43:53,720 Speaker 3: how does it fit into the planet Jupiter and its moons? 738 00:43:54,520 --> 00:43:56,439 Speaker 3: How do we get from there to hear well? 739 00:43:56,680 --> 00:43:58,480 Speaker 2: Most likely most of it does come down to just 740 00:43:58,600 --> 00:44:04,200 Speaker 2: the Jupiter Zeus association. Marius's choice in naming it Io 741 00:44:04,480 --> 00:44:07,760 Speaker 2: was apparently based on a sixteen thirteen suggestion by Johannes 742 00:44:07,840 --> 00:44:11,440 Speaker 2: Kepler that the Jovian moons all be named for the 743 00:44:11,560 --> 00:44:14,839 Speaker 2: lovers of Zeus, but it's also worth stressing that there 744 00:44:15,120 --> 00:44:17,920 Speaker 2: was apparently there's a connection to be made between mythic 745 00:44:18,040 --> 00:44:22,319 Speaker 2: Io and Earth's own moon, so she has seemingly has 746 00:44:22,440 --> 00:44:27,160 Speaker 2: lunar qualities all her own anyway. According to classicist Peter T. 747 00:44:27,440 --> 00:44:31,759 Speaker 2: Struck in his online Pin State Classics Dictionary, Io is 748 00:44:32,120 --> 00:44:35,680 Speaker 2: the wanderer and is generally explained as a moon goddess 749 00:44:36,200 --> 00:44:41,200 Speaker 2: wandering in the starry heavens. These heavens symbolized by Argus's 750 00:44:41,239 --> 00:44:45,320 Speaker 2: one hundred shining eyes and then her transformation into a 751 00:44:45,440 --> 00:44:49,560 Speaker 2: horned heifer represents nothing other than the crescent moon. 752 00:44:50,040 --> 00:44:51,080 Speaker 3: Oh interesting. 753 00:44:51,600 --> 00:44:53,719 Speaker 2: Yeah, so yeah, the more you look at it, like, 754 00:44:54,080 --> 00:44:57,840 Speaker 2: the myth of Io is ultimately fairly complicated because you 755 00:44:57,960 --> 00:45:01,000 Speaker 2: have all these different, you know, cross culture exchanges bound 756 00:45:01,080 --> 00:45:03,879 Speaker 2: up in it. There's the lunar aspect of it, as 757 00:45:03,920 --> 00:45:07,400 Speaker 2: well as you know, some of these aspects of the 758 00:45:07,440 --> 00:45:11,400 Speaker 2: story that can be troubling and confounding, especially to modern 759 00:45:11,480 --> 00:45:16,120 Speaker 2: readers that are learning about it, you know, across the 760 00:45:16,239 --> 00:45:19,520 Speaker 2: thousands of years of history. All right, on that note, 761 00:45:19,560 --> 00:45:21,480 Speaker 2: we're gonna go ahead and close up this episode of 762 00:45:21,480 --> 00:45:22,840 Speaker 2: Stuff to Blow Your Mind, but we're going to be 763 00:45:22,920 --> 00:45:27,200 Speaker 2: back in a part two on the Moon of Io. 764 00:45:28,480 --> 00:45:33,239 Speaker 2: We'll get into some more curious details about the moon 765 00:45:33,840 --> 00:45:37,440 Speaker 2: in that episode. In the meantime, we'd like to remind 766 00:45:37,520 --> 00:45:39,440 Speaker 2: you all this Stuff to Blow Your Mind is primarily 767 00:45:39,480 --> 00:45:42,040 Speaker 2: a science and culture podcast, with core episodes on Tuesdays 768 00:45:42,080 --> 00:45:45,240 Speaker 2: and Thursdays, short form episodes on Wednesdays and on Fridays. 769 00:45:45,280 --> 00:45:48,000 Speaker 2: We set aside most serious concerns to just talk about 770 00:45:48,000 --> 00:45:49,880 Speaker 2: a weird film on Weird House Cinema. 771 00:45:50,440 --> 00:45:54,200 Speaker 3: Huge thanks as always to our excellent audio producer JJ Posway. 772 00:45:54,600 --> 00:45:56,080 Speaker 3: If you would like to get in touch with us 773 00:45:56,120 --> 00:45:58,680 Speaker 3: with feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest 774 00:45:58,760 --> 00:46:00,919 Speaker 3: a topic for the future, or just to say hello, 775 00:46:01,080 --> 00:46:03,759 Speaker 3: you can email us at contact stuff to Blow your 776 00:46:03,840 --> 00:46:04,680 Speaker 3: Mind dot com. 777 00:46:12,120 --> 00:46:15,040 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For 778 00:46:15,160 --> 00:46:18,960 Speaker 1: more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 779 00:46:19,080 --> 00:46:20,840 Speaker 1: or wherever you're listening to your favorite shows.