Celestial Diamond Necklace

By Harley White posted 05-27-2021 06:06

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Image Credit: ESA, Hubble, NASA; Processing: K. Noll

Celestial Diamond Necklace

A huge diamond necklace in jewel store
adorns the heavens’ bespangled attire;
yet lest I’m thought reckless with metaphor,
if into this epithet we inquire

‘twas scientists who bestowed upon it
that moniker to extol its allure,
for such a title seemed owed to befit
the gorgeousness of that cosmic couture.

In constellation Sagitta it lies,
or otherwise as the Arrow renowned,
a dim formation that’s smallish in size
though back in Ptolemy’s time it was found.

The bright ring bejeweled nebula shown,
misnamed planetary by gazers past,
has jets which have fueled the gem out-blown
from stars at the center in stages last.

Two stars, it seems, in orbit together,
so close that communal aura they share,
send out jet-streams of gases in tether
resembling rare diamonds for millionaire

by virtue of knots with brilliance agleam.
Although in death throes, they’re dazzling the sky
with zillions of watts in each cosmic beam
around azure sphere that’s glowing on high.

The gas clouds of red above and below,
in sequence at left and to right, derive
from jets that have sped in turbulent flow
away from the middle in dying dive,

while still the how and the when stay hidden
within the mystique of the great unknown,
at least as this rhyme I pen unbidden
in starry-eyed wonderment’s lyric tone…

By dint of these peeks unveiled for mortals
that Hubble scope renders in stunning cast,
astronomy seeks to widen portals
for fathoming further the endless vast.

~ Harley White

* * * * * * * * *

Some sources of inspiration were the following…

Image and info ~ Hubble Views a Dazzling Cosmic Necklace…
https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2021/hubble-views-a-dazzling-cosmic-necklace

Image and info ~ Jets from the Necklace Nebula ~ Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD)…
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210518.html

Explanation: What celestial body wears the Necklace Nebula? First, analyses indicate that the Necklace is a planetary nebula, a gas cloud emitted by a star toward the end of its life. Also, what appears to be diamonds in the Necklace are actually bright knots of glowing gas. In the center of the Necklace Nebula are likely two stars orbiting so close together that they share a common atmosphere and appear as one in the featured image by the Hubble Space Telescope. The red-glowing gas clouds on the upper left and lower right are the results of jets from the center. Exactly when and how the bright jets formed remains a topic of research. The Necklace Nebula is only about 5,000 years old, spans about 5 light years, and can best be found with a large telescope toward the direction of the constellation of the Arrow (Sagitta).

Image Credit: ESA, Hubble, NASA; Processing: K. Noll

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Andee Sherwood

05-27-2021 10:03

I love the way you brought your poem together at the end. This is truly a "diamond" of a poem!

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