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Grand Galactic Spiral

By Harley White posted 5 days ago

  

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Koss, A. Barth

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Grand Galactic Spiral

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In the small constellation which is called

Telescopium, a Latinized form

of the Greek for telescope is the sprawled

spiral galaxy in its astral swarm.

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Stippled with stars in the image we see

that hover about the firmament view

the Hubble has given us cordially

our own special gaze in this rendezvous

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at the grand I C 4 7 O 9

amid its swirling disks sidereal

within the faraway cosmic confine

high in celestial skies ethereal.

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It’s two hundred forty million light-years

away from our planet petite of earth,

of the hopes and fears, of laughter and tears,

where we mortals are living present mirth.

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Surrounding the whole is a halo faint

with dusty bands by artistry captured

as if an acrylic master of paint

had become by starry sights enraptured

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and created a masterpiece in space

one of myriad exhibited there

amongst the empyreal spheres of grace

as visioned from our earthly haven rare.

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‘Tis said a gargantuan black hole dwells

within this galactic spiral as ‘guest’,

if such word could conjure up parallels

to the crashing gas that is manifest.

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Within those environs it gets so hot

electromagnetic quantities great

radiation, infrared on, are shot,

per the spectrum of its emission fate.

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It is sixty-five million times the mass

of our Sun– one can barely fathom that–

which makes the great luminance come to pass

in apparently hellish habitat.

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As we cast our eyes at the vast expanse

or give to the cosmos more than a glance

one wonders in awe at the happenstance

that brought to existence our human dance.

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Aye seemingly seldom does life appear

within what we’ve seen of the ceaseless sweep

so let us yet strive our lives to revere

before we fall into that deepest sleep.

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~ Harley White

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Some sources of inspiration were the following…

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File:IC4709 - Hubble Space Telescope - potw2436a.jpg (Wikipedia)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:IC4709_-_Hubble_Space_Telescope_-_potw2436a.jpg

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The image, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, showcases the grand spiral galaxy IC 4709, located approximately 240 million light-years from Earth in the southern constellation Telescopium. Its luminous core is home to an active galactic nucleus (AGN) that emits radiation across almost all electromagnetic wavelengths. This brightness is largely due to a massive black hole at its center, which contains 65 million times the mass of our Sun. The galaxy is enveloped by a faint halo, and its spiral disk is densely populated with stars, gas, and dust…

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Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Koss, A. Barth


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