Sleeping Beauty Galaxy
Sleeping Beauty tosses and turns
as in a course contrary churns
galactic realm outside the heart
where further spatial spying smart
more astronomic savvy learns.
While telescopic eye sojourns
through visionary sight discerns,
the fairy talers too impart
Sleeping Beauty.
Enlightenment delusion spurns.
As mortal flame’s desiring burns,
in slumbered dreams our paths we chart
and strive to craft a living art.
Oh when will I awaken, yearns
Sleeping Beauty?
~ Harley White
* * * * * * * * *
The poem is in the form of a rondeau…
Some sources of inspiration were the following…
Black Eye Galaxy (Wikipedia)…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Eye_Galaxy
M64: The Sleeping Beauty Galaxy (APOD)…
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110612.html
Explanation: The Sleeping Beauty galaxy may appear peaceful at first sight but it is actually tossing and turning. In an unexpected twist, recent observations have shown that the gas in the outer regions of this photogenic spiral is rotating in the opposite direction from all of the stars! Collisions between gas in the inner and outer regions are creating many hot blue stars and pink emission nebula. The above image was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2001 and released in 2004. The fascinating internal motions of M64, also cataloged as NGC 4826, are thought to be the result of a collision between a small galaxy and a large galaxy where the resultant mix has not yet settled down.
Credit: NASA and the Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI), S. Smartt (IoA) & D. Richstone (U. Michigan) et al.
#poetry