Tugging Triplet Galaxies

By Harley White posted 08-31-2021 06:54

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Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Dalcanton

Tugging Triplet Galaxies

Far from terrestrial fighting and fears
by Hubble spied in Lynx constellation,
over seven hundred million light-years
beyond our orbit of habitation,

a scene from theatrical cosmic play
appears to be showing on giant stage
of triple galactic tug-of-war fray
where great gravitational wills engage.

The system UGC Four Six Five Three
in Atlas of those ‘peculiar’ is filed
with galaxies ‘weirder, wondrous’ to see
by Halton Arp astro-watcher compiled.

This topical stargazer, unconvinced
along with some others that redshifts meant
Big Bang cosmological was evinced,
proposed conversely they might represent

a redshift intrinsic of universe,
and not its expanding incessantly
as posited for how space could disperse
when curtain would close on stellar esprit,

thus bucking the trend of astronomy
these days in supposed conventional fact,
a thinker perhaps of autonomy
in matters involving notions abstract.

The imaged system was visualized
through various optical filters four
in which chosen colors diverse comprised
this portrait construed as a ‘tug-of-war’.

Or is that an anthropomorphic view
for gatherings merely interacting
free from sidereal hullabaloo
while seeking sundry forms of attracting?

There are places natural where it seems
self-interests tend to cooperate
among plants and creatures in earthly schemes,
though lately that’s hardly our species’ trait.

The ancient Greek poet Hesiod wrote
a myth of Pandora which resonates
as yet in these times as an anecdote
to illustrate our own harrowing fates.

When Evils emerged in numberless flocks
did Hope stay imprisoned within the jar
(which textual fault turned into a box),
or should we keep wishing upon a star?

Surreal scenarios leap to mind
that find my turbulent senses aghast.
Has humankind left common sense behind?
What future might come from our heedless past?

But I’ve allowed my focus to wander
‘mongst themes that zigzag hither and yonder,
so let me try my lines not to squander
lest I get lost in musings to ponder.

Wherewith shall end this erratic lyric
from galaxies starting to then digress
in amidst matters nonstratospheric?
‘Twould seem a task futile, nevertheless,

all is linked through interdependencies,
somehow, in some way, by cause and effect
deeper than mind’s deluded tendencies,
far more encompassing than we reflect.

‘How noble in reason humans could be,’
to cite Shakespeare’s Hamlet in my retake,
‘and infinite also in faculty,’
if only to true awareness we’d wake!

~ Harley White

* * * * * * * * *

Some sources of inspiration were the following…

Quote from ‘Hamlet, by’ William Shakespeare: What a piece of work is a man (Wikipedia)…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_a_piece_of_work_is_a_man

Pandora’s box (Wikipedia)…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora%27s_box

Info and image ~ Hubble Spots Squabbling Galactic Siblings…
https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2021/hubble-spots-squabbling-galactic-siblings

Image explanation ~ A dramatic triplet of galaxies takes center stage in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, which captures a three-way gravitational tug-of-war between interacting galaxies. This system – known as Arp 195 – is featured in the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies, a list which showcases some of the weirder and more wonderful galaxies in the universe.

Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Dalcanton

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