Sculptor in Space

By Harley White posted 05-18-2021 08:32

Recommend

Sculptor in Space

Could there be a sculptor in outer space
deserving of standing ovations,
or grand ethereal artist’s embrace
that’s fashioning cosmic sensations

unique as each snowflake or star that shines
a myriad marvels manifold,
reality’s utterness in designs
for highflying dreamers to behold?

Might some stargazers have wondered as well
since there’s a galaxy Sculptor termed
as found in the Sculptor grouping to dwell
by Caroline Herschel first affirmed?

Officially NGC Two Five Three,
by name Silver Dollar also known,
it’s one of the closest, brightest we see
of spiral galaxies near our own.

A mere thirteen million light-years away
in Sculptor constellation it lies,
with tendrils of dust from its arms which splay
from disk in lanes to dazzle our eyes.

That spiral’s a dusty island indeed,
in structure ‘barred’ at the center too,
a galaxy starburst in frantic feed
of star-forming regions imaged blue.

Great Nature’s a sculptor of countless skills
from miniature to cosmic scales
replete with a host of glorious thrills
on earth or space fabric’s hills and vales.

Such artistry inspiration invites
for psyches to seek poetic flights
in creativity’s secret delights
among the peaks of sensory heights…

Within the curvatures gravity shapes
through eons where vast beyond extends,
twixt heavenly bodies I’d freely traipse
in spacetime carvings of warps and bends

perhaps curled up, inside out, or unwound
midst lustrous purviews brilliantly pearled
where only enlightened beings are found
in dreams of celestial wonderworld.

~ Harley White

* * * * * * * * *

Some sources of inspiration were the following…

Sculptor Galaxy ~ Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sculptor_Galaxy

VISTA’s infrared view of the Sculptor Galaxy (NGC 253)
https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1025a/

Image explanation ~ NGC 253 is one of the closest galaxies to our own. It is a bright spiral that lies about 13 million light-years from Earth in the southern constellation of Sculptor and is noted for being a starburst galaxy with very vigorous star formation and very dusty spiral arms. In the infrared, the rich dust clouds in the galaxy’s spiral arms become nearly transparent and a whole host of cool red stars that are otherwise invisible can be seen. The VISTA infrared images were taken through Y, Z, J, Ksand narrowband filters. The field of view is about 38 by 25 arcminutes.

Credit: ESO/J. Emerson/VISTA. Acknowledgment: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit

#poetry

0 comments

27 views

Blogs