Site icon Pen o’ the Woods : The Forest of the Heart

eels & the mystery

Pen o’ the Woods

The bright star at the center of NGC 3132, while prominent when viewed by NASA’s Webb Telescope in near-infrared light, plays a supporting role in sculpting the surrounding nebula. A second star, barely visible at lower left along one of the bright star’s diffraction spikes, is the nebula’s source. It has ejected at least eight layers of gas and dust over thousands of years. But the bright central star visible here has helped “stir” the pot, changing the shape of this planetary nebula’s highly intricate rings by creating turbulence. The pair of stars are locked in a tight orbit, which leads the dimmer star to spray ejected material in a range of directions as they orbit one another, resulting in these jagged rings. Hundreds of straight, brightly-lit lines pierce through the rings of gas and dust. These “spotlights” emanate from the bright star and stream through holes in the nebula like sunlight through gaps in a cloud. But not all of the starlight can escape. The density of the central region, set off in teal, is reflected by how transparent or opaque it is. Areas that are a deeper teal indicate that the gas and dust are denser – and light is unable to break free. Data from Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) were used to make this extremely detailed image. It is teeming with scientific information – and research will begin following its release. This is not only a crisp image of a planetary nebula – it also shows us objects in the vast distances of space behind it. The transparent red sections of the planetary nebula – and all the areas outside it – are filled with distant galaxies. Look for the bright angled line at the upper left. It is not starlight – it is a faraway galaxy seen edge-on. Distant spirals, of many shapes and colors, also dot the scene. Those that are farthest away – or very dusty – are small and red. For a full array of Webb’s first images and spectra, including downloadable files, please visit: https://webbtelescope.org/news/first-images NIRCam was built by a team at the University of Arizona and Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Technology Center.

Her face lit up like phosphorescence

in the sea at night

when she spoke of the mystery

around the origin of the eels—

Afterward,

I imagined solving the puzzle—

Finding the elusive answer labeled,

“magical” by the great logician Aristotle

regarding their reproduction,

and why they seem to originate from a

singular geography—

I imagined telling her, dispelling her awe

and of what her response might be—

and of how I would likely see the spell of wonder

break like a shadow across her face—

I’d see a yarn so masterfully woven

by the Mystery itself, unraveled

by my own ruinous research—

So,

I no longer want to know

where the eels come from,

or why the flowers bloom,

or why Spring follows Winter

or why Everything is —

And,

I ponder the bliss of awe in the Mystery,

and I rest in the deepest knowing of the Heart,

that sees the vastness of this miraculous display

of the millions of myriad mysteries

dancing before and all around me

of which we are a small part—

and in the smallness of my

understandings

of them,

and I’m okay

with that bliss

and that kind of

knowing.

And then I realize the true lesson here—

That when we discover how the magician

creates the illusion, somehow

it ruins the whole wondrous show—

And that the shimmering wonderlight

of a true cosmic mystery

far outshines the satisfaction

of solving it.

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