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Galactic Needle

By Harley White posted 07-07-2021 07:59

  


NGC 4565 is an edge-on spiral galaxy about 30 to 50 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices.



Galactic Needle
 
 
Adrift in space where dreamers tread
a Needle’s sewing cosmic thread
through cloths of heavens vastly spread
of gold and silver light o’erhead,
 
to draw from Irish poet Yeats
in cherished verse recited oft
of gorgeous vision he creates
wherein he pled for footsteps soft
 
upon his dreams laid underfoot,
he being poor with only those
embroidered fabrics there to put,
or so his wish celestial goes.
 
Blue hues as well in cloths around
the galaxy of thin design
as Needle tagged when it was found
are glimpsed in lumined stellar shine.
 
What do the experts have to share
about the slender rod physique
in Coma Berenices (Hair)?
Is Needle Galaxy unique?
 
If eyed edge-on the Milky Way
might show a similarity
to spiral grouping’s look, they say,
perceived in scenic clarity—
 
that stylus first recorded for
Sir William Herschel’s star archive
with central bulge at inner core,
termed NGC Four Five Six Five.
 
Its narrow profile corresponds
to aspect of the seamster’s tool
or fairytalers’ magic wands
which sorceresses use to rule.
 
This spiral like our Milky one
has interstellar dusty lanes
perhaps with habitats homespun
where other musers weave terrains.
 
While background galaxies are spied
an ‘island universe’ it seems
for poet’s reveries to glide
amongst idyllic starlit beams.
 
Midst endlessness of inky space
the vista astrally atilt
where veiling trails of disk enlace
might summon up a lyric lilt
 
in tuneful verses lithely hewn
of luminaries on the rise
in distant firmaments o’erstrewn
through yet unconstellated skies…
 
Still, many million light-years far
our happenstance of death and birth
beneath a mortal lucky star
is here on evanescent earth.
 
Let Needle tailor hitherto
undreamed of dreams with lofty view
that humans may inspire anew
to grander purposes pursue.
 
 
~ Harley White
 
 
* * * * * * * * *
 
 
Some sources of inspiration were the following…
 
Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
 
~ W. B. Yeats‘s (1865-1939) ~ ‘He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven’…
 
The Needle Galaxy, an edge-on spiral galaxy in Coma Berenices…
http://annesastronomynews.com/photo-gallery-ii/galaxies-clusters/the-needle-galaxy-ngc-4565/
 
NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge ~ APOD…
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190222.html
 
Spiral galaxy NGC 4565…
https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso0525a/
 
Image and info ~ NGC 4565 (Wikipedia)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_4565
 
Image ~ File:Needle Galaxy 4565.jpeg (This work is free and may be used by anyone for any purpose.) ~ NGC 4565 is an edge-on spiral galaxy about 30 to 50 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Needle_Galaxy_4565.jpeg
 
Explanation ~ NGC 4565 is, for obvious reasons is also called the Needle Galaxy. First spotted in 1785 by Sir William Herschel (1738-1822), this is one of the most famous examples of an edge-on spiral galaxy and is located some 30 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices (Berenice’s Hair). It displays a bright yellowish central bulge that juts out above most impressive dust lanes.
 
Image Credit: NGC 4565 by Ken Crawford
 
 
#poetry
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Andee Sherwood
07-08-2021 10:47

I was immediately devoted to your new poem after reading the first line. 
"Adrift in space where dreamers tread" -  The first stanza is captivating! I "floated" through your poem, feeling completely satisfied, I didn't want it to end.