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Monkey Head Nebula
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Why is it called the Monkey Head?
Where is the monkey hiding?
Whose pareidolia has led
to such nickname presiding?
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It seems that humans love to lay
some meaningful impression
upon the images that they
retain at their discretion.
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The famous Rorschach inkblot test
is based upon such notions
that subjects’ inklings manifest
their unexpressed emotions.
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Apparently it is a kind,
pareidolia to wit,
of apophenia, or mind
seeking patterns that are fit.
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Stargazers also like to place
their own interpretations
upon the things they glimpse in space
thus adding innovations.
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Such here appears the case with what
the nebula is showing
and how a head seems to abut
for someone in the knowing
.
of what they are supposed to see
according to the label
and if their vision can agree
with mythic theme or fable.
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NGC two one seven four,
is a vibrant birthing site
for youthful stellars by the score
in a spot huefully bright,
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a violent star nursery
with makings of formation
in explanation cursory
for youngsters in creation.
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While all ingredients are there
for fashioning star birth new,
most dissipate into the air
in lieu of cooking up brew.
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It lies within Orion’s throng
six thousand four hundred light-
years from the world where we belong,
as mortals with appetite
.
for knowledge and for might, alas,
more than simply holding sway,
since oft with power comes to pass
greed for all one may survey.
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At any rate to view the stars
and look beyond our worries
transports us from the nears to fars,
from present mirth and furies
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while bearing fancies further than
all possible endeavors
to realms where fantasy can span
the evermore forevers.
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~ Harley White
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* * * * * * * * *
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Some sources were the following…
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NGC 2174 (Wikipedia)…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_2174
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Hubble revisits the Monkey Head Nebula for 24th birthday snap…
https://esahubble.org/news/heic1406/
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Monkey Head Nebula (NGC 2174)…
https://www.constellation-guide.com/monkey-head-nebula/
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Pareidolia (Wikipedia)…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia
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Explanation: NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has released a beautiful new image of part of NGC 2174, also known as the Monkey Head Nebula. This colorful region is filled with young stars embedded within bright wisps of cosmic gas and dust… NGC 2174 lies about 6400 light-years away in the constellation of Orion (The Hunter)… The detail shown in this image lies within NGC 2174, a nebula which gets its more common name, the Monkey Head Nebula, from its curiously familiar shape when viewed in wide-field images… The nebula is a violent stellar nursery, packed with the ingredients needed for star formation. However, the recipe for cooking up new stars isn't very efficient and most of the ingredients are wasted as the cloud of gas and dust disperses. This process is accelerated by the presence of fiercely hot young stars which trigger high velocity winds that help to blow the gas outwards.
#poetry