Stellar Outburst

By Harley White posted 06-24-2022 06:10

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NASA, ESA, STScI; Processing: Judy Schmidt

Stellar Outburst

The poem ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’
was in the early eighteen hundreds penned
within the literary repertoire
Jane Taylor wrote, with lyrics that transcend

her times, and sung to tune of lullaby
in French, inspiring Mozart to compose
twelve variations— such a genius, aye—
with tuneful sparkle as the music flows.

Beyond our mortal ‘crossing of the bar’
in constellation Carina, ship’s keel,
located twenty thousand light-years far
lies astral realm that’s bursting out with zeal

and luminosity to twinkle bright
like diamond’s dazzle in the sable sky
from huge sidereal’s unstable light
way up above the earthly world so high.

Erratically seen with naked eye
through shrouding dust plus interval between
our home familiar where we’re born and die
with scarce a rippled touch on cosmic screen,

that supergiant star a million times
the power of the Sun, which bears the name
AG Carinae, tweaks some paradigms
perhaps in capture of this larger frame

by Hubble telescope’s perspective new
with nebula’s whole structural surround
including vented remnants in the view
of one of brightest stars in Milky found.

Its nimbus is about five light-years wide—
a distance equal to the star most near
apart from Sun, Alpha Centauri— spied
in time of Ptolemy’s Earth-centric sphere.

AG Carinae is an LBV
or luminous blue variable type
with periodic outbursts as a key
when its peculiar timing phase is ripe.

These stellar objects massively evolved
are said to be exceptionally rare
with much about their nature unresolved
regarding the quiescency and flare.

In Taylor’s verses that continue on,
‘when gone the blazing sun’, then in the dark
the traveler who lacks the lamp of dawn
is thankful for the little stellar spark

to light the way— in figurative sense,
so we may vision life and death sojourn
through sight with less benightedness intense
along the path from womb to ashen urn.

While not disparaging the knowledge earned,
by scientists who leave no stone unturned,
those giants who for deeper wisdom yearned
and plumbed enigmas, thus new ‘laws’ discerned,

as coda, let Walt Whitman have last word
who wrote ‘when learn’d astronomer he heard,
with figures, diagrams, and proofs conferred
‘twas soon an urge inside of him demurred,

‘till rising from his seat he wandered out
into the ‘mystical night-air alone’
to look at stars in perfect hush devout
spurred on by unaccountable unknown,

as I through Hubble virtually gaze
to stretch perceptions to a broader plane
when wearied with our woeful worldly ways,
impulsed by an inherent want arcane.

~ Harley White

* * * * * * * *

Some sources of inspiration were the following…

“Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” (Wikipedia)…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twinkle%2C_Twinkle%2C_Little_Star

Reference to poem “Crossing the Bar”, an 1889 poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson…

Mozart: 12 Variations “Ah, vous dirai-je, maman” KV 265 (Clara Haskil)…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO-ecxHEPqI&ab_channel=Pianoplayer002

Note on pianist Clara Haskil: An esteemed friend of Haskil, Charlie Chaplin, described her talent by saying “In my lifetime I have met three geniuses; Professor Einstein, Winston Churchill, and Clara Haskil. I am not a trained musician but I can only say that her touch was exquisite, her expression wonderful, and her technique extraordinary.”

Poem: “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer”, by Walt Whitman (1819-1892)…
https://poets.org/poem/when-i-heard-learnd-astronomer

Info ~ AG Carinae (Wikipedia)…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AG_Carinae

Image and info ~ The Outburst Clouds of Star AG Car…
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210526.html

Explanation: At the center of this 2021 Hubble image sits AG Carinae, a supergiant star located about 20,000 light-years away in the southern constellation Carina. The star’s emitted power is over a million times that of the Sun, making AG Carinae one of the most luminous stars in our Milky Way galaxy. AG Carinae and its neighbor Eta Carinae belong to the scarce Luminous Blue Variable (LBV) class of stars, known for their rare but violent eruptions. The nebula that surrounds AG Car is interpreted as a remnant of one or more such outbursts. This nebula measures 5 light-years across, is estimated to contain about 10 solar masses of gas, and to be at least 10,000 years old. This Hubble image is the first to capture the whole nebula, offering a new perspective on its structure and dust content. The LBVs represent a late and short stage in the lives of some supergiant stars, but explaining their restlessness remains a challenge to humanity’s understanding of how massive stars work.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI; Processing: Judy Schmidt

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