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Empyrean Mice

By Harley White posted 10-25-2021 06:02

  


Credit: NASA, H. Ford (JHU), G. Illingworth (UCSC/LO), M.Clampin (STScI), G. Hartig (STScI), the ACS Science Team, and ESA


Empyrean Mice
 
 
A hickory dickory dock ballet
appears to be choreographed on high
as round two mice dance in cosmic display
amidst the grand cabaret in the sky
 
like hands of an astronomical clock
a merger eventual to foretell
of galaxy duo in mute tick-tock
far off from where we terrestrials dwell.
 
Some three hundred million light-years away
in Coma Berenices or her Hair,
the one constellation midst the array
that’s named for a figure historic ere—
 
the queen Egyptian who offered her locks
as votive sacrifice, thereby to gain
a place immortal among heavens’ flocks
within celestial immenseness to reign—
 
a pair of mice each with such lengthy tail,
so long that “The Mice” sobriquet they earned,
inhabit a lofty realm where prevail
all manner of wonders still undiscerned.
 
With rodent nickname because of its look,
it’s termed NGC Four Six Seven Six
in Catalogue General New, the book
which classified objects deep-sky in mix.
 
These spiral galaxies nearly the same
have streams of substances flowing between,
each one having passed through the other’s frame
with stellar tails captured in wide field scene,
 
appendages both curved, though one seems straight
by reason of seeing an edge-on view.
What else may appear in an altered state
deluding senses—if only we knew…
 
The patches of blue show lively cascade
of clustered young stars through gravity’s spur,
with great tidal forces by contact made
in varied hits that will likely recur
 
perhaps over next billion years or so
until into one the two coalesce
to form a galactic ellipse tableau,
though who might glimpse it is anyone’s guess
 
or whether there’ll be a verser  around
with urge to compose a lyric or two
about bright stars that will surely abound
long after our species has bid adieu.
 
At present, with humankind’s earthbound sight
upon this planet’s familiar veneer
where might still makes right and maddened delight,
contempt has been bred for many a year.
 
The wisdom of sages assists us not.
With shallow awareness we miss the heart.
Mistakes through the ages are soon forgot.
Good will’s not enough but would be a start.
 
Meanwhile stargazers through telescopes peer
at cosmic arena’s supernal cast
to stretch their vision beyond earthly sphere
and seek to fathom the fathomless vast.
 
 
~ Harley White
 
 
* * * * * * * * *
 
 
A source of inspiration was the following…
 
A Mice story (Astronomy)…
https://astronomy.com/magazine/2002/06/a-mice-story
 
Explanation: Also known as NGC 4676, “The Mice” are a pair of nearly identical spiral galaxies seen during the early stages of a merger. They will eventually form one large elliptical galaxy. According to simulations, we are seeing this colliding pair approximately 160 million years after their closest encounter. The long tail on the right galaxy is actually curved, but appears straight because we see it edge-on. The formation of bright blue waves of hot, young star clusters (seen especially well in the left galaxy) has been triggered by the galactic interaction. The galaxies lie 300 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices. This image was taken in April, 2002, by the Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys.
 
Credit: NASA, H. Ford (JHU), G. Illingworth (UCSC/LO), M.Clampin (STScI), G. Hartig (STScI), the ACS Science Team, and ESA
 
 
#poetry
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