This is Galaxy M104, sometimes know as the Sombrero Galaxy. It is approximately 29 million light years from Earth (just under 290 million million million kilometres), so what we see today was the galaxy as it was 29 million years ago. No doubt a lot has happened there since then; it certainly has here. What's it like there now?
This picture of somewhere almost unthinkably remote from our own lives (but still quite close in galactic terms) reminds me of Elizabeth Jennings' beautiful short poem 'Delay':
The radiance of that star that leans on me
Was shining years ago. The light that now
Glitters up there my eye may never see,
And so the time lag teases me with how
Love that loves now may not reach me until
Its first desire is spent. The star's impulse
Must wait for eyes to claim it beautiful
And love arrived may find us somewhere else.
The moral of which may be summarised as: someone may be trying to tell you something......
No comments:
Post a Comment