Galactic Confluence

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             The NASA observatories great three
             have studied a galaxy cluster vast
             in the universe’s family tree
             less than a third of its age, from the past.

             With name that’s too long for poetic line,
             IDCS One Four Two Six, for short,
             is imaged in hues that brilliantly shine
             midst northern skies where Boötes holds court.

             This stretch multi-wavelength shows X-rays blue
             from Chandra, with visible light in green
             through Hubble; and then to complete the view,
             infrared data by Spitzer is seen

             in red— a huge structure considered rare.
             Located ten billion light-years afar,
             its staggering weight is said to compare
             with five hundred trillion suns like our star!

             ‘Twas the Spitzer that discovered it first,
             in two thousand twelve, not so long ago.
             More observations were later dispersed,
             while many theories started to flow

             about formation of clusters massive,
             galactic in nature plus scope and size,
             with evolution in no way passive
             as mergers their heftiness would revise.

             Seemingly ninety percent matter dark
             detected through gravitational pull—
             a mysterious stuff in contrast stark
             to the kind perceived and portrayed in full—

             the group has astronomers quite intrigued
             because of its mixture of mass and youth.
             Stargazers with data together leagued
             in search of the galaxy cluster’s truth.

             Yet of all the wonders this lot can boast
             from its cooler core to its grand design,
             the beautiful blue beguiles me the most
             with a sense of serenity benign.

             “Blue! ‘Tis the life of heaven,” Keats noted
             in one of the stunning sonnets he penned,
             that poet sublime so often quoted,
             whose days came to such an untimely end.

             Still his ‘bright star’ ever steadfast will glow
             to illuminate worldly senses dimmed,
             while ‘in midst of other woe’ than we know,
             with beauty and truth exquisitely limned.

             The telescopes Hubble, Spitzer, Chandra
             for famous scientists have been labeled,
             believed of insights, unlike Cassandra,
             and their groundbreaking sky-visions fabled.

             Astrophysicist winner Nobel Prize,
             with given name Chandrasekhar entire,
             was the chosen one to immortalize
             the space observation amplifier

             of x-ray sources considered too faint
             for picking up from our planet-based home.
             What colorful portraits wavelengths can paint
             of marvels displayed on the cosmic dome!

             Chandra in Sanskrit means ‘shining’ or ‘moon’,
             which returns us to planet Earth anew,
             where Nature for mortal life is in tune,
             while human priorities are askew.

             Our sapphire world is a speck miniscule
             in the universe phantasmagoric,
             yet dearer to us than priceless jewel
             or a heavenly realm metaphoric,

             for here we’re creating mankind’s memoirs,
             as well as our individual fate,
             beneath a splendorous stippling of stars…
             May we awaken before it’s too late!


             ~ Harley White

          

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Inspiration derived from the following sources…

Galaxy cluster IDCS J1426...

Galaxy Cluster IDCS 1426...

NASA’s Great Observatories Weigh Massive Young Galaxy Cluster...

IDCS J1426.5+3508: NASA’s Great Observatories Weigh Massive Young Galaxy Cluster...

Boötes (‘Boe-OH-teez’) ~ The Constellation Nobody Can Say Right...

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar...

Chandra X-ray Observatory...

Chandra...

A Tour of IDCS J1426.5+3508...

View Video & Listen...

NASA’s Great Observatories Weigh Massive Young Galaxy Cluster...

Galaxy Cluster IDCS J1426...

Galaxy Cluster IDCS 1426...

Poetry of John Keats (1795-1821) ~ in particular the sonnet Blue! ‘Tis the life of heaven, the domain and Ode on a Grecian Urn...

Further inspiration derived from the teachings and writings of Nichiren Daishōnin…

Nam Myōhō Renge Kyō means to devote our lives to and found them on (Nam[u]) the Utterness of the Dharma (Myōhō) [entirety of existence, enlightenment and unenlightenment] permeated by the underlying white lotus flower-like mechanism of the interdependence of cause, concomitancy and effect (Renge) in its whereabouts of the ten [psychological] realms of dharmas [which is every possible psychological wavelength] (Kyō).

The reason that we continually recite Nam Myōhō Renge Kyō

This image of IDCS J1426.5+3508 contains X-rays from Chandra (blue), visible light from Hubble (green), and infrared data from Spitzer (red).

Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ of Missouri/M.Brodwin et al; Optical: NASA/STScI; Infrared: JPL/CalTech