Being the dark daughter of Chaos, she is a real night person. Which explains why she is the consort of Erebus the God of Darkness — or at least likes him enough for a night-time fling. Their children include Aether, Hemera and the Fates. They are also responsible for the morbid brothers Thanatos and Hypnos.

Every evening she coaxes him out to spread his gloomy darkness, which obscures the shining Aether and lets the stars come out to play. It’s up to daughter Hemera to waft away the darkness every morning to let the sun shine.

Like many other Greek deities, Nyx has also donated her name to a celestial object. Previously known as S/2005 P1, this gloomy moon circles the remote planetoid Pluto in a suitably shadowy and mysterious manner.

Strangely, astronomers have decided to spell the name ‘Nix’ instead of ‘Nyx’. We imagine there must be a Disney character with a similar nixname waiting in the wings.

We have no more light to shed on the darkness at present.

Article last revised on September 06, 2018 by Rowan Allen.
Editors: Peter J. Allen, Chas Saunders

References: Coming soon.

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