Sonnet XXXVII

Solar Activity Impacts Earth's Magnetic Field

Powerful magnetic forces tangled
in the solar wind, fracture and shatter
then rejoin with vengeance till flares, mangled
and twisted in bits of stellar matter,
pop-off on the solar surface. It’s jazz
played with frenzied brutality. It’s twitching
epileptically toward the poles. Viewed as
dynamic motions, it keeps enriching
catastrophic solar events. The sun
is miasmic. It is a complex beast.
It churns and quivers. It stops for no one.
A ball of hydrogen, to say the least!
Fluids ebb and flow on a disc shaped star,
materials suddenly fling out far.

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 The Sun is a seething ball of ionized gas, called plasma, and has very complex magnetic fields that interact with this plasma.  The Solar activity impacts the magnetic fields of the Earth. It also has significant influence on Earth’s weather.

The picture comes from:

http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/

http://mblogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/06/14/the-sun-may-be-headed-for-a-little-quiet-time/

Sonnet XXXI

Oddly Off-Kilter NGC 2442

Even a galaxy may be off kilter ―
not shaped like a pristine bilateral
spiral. Light streaks outward through a filter,
it seems, when snatched by a collateral
body. Free-floating hydrogen was drawn
into tangible streamer vanes of gas;
dust yanked like taffy, with endless brawn,
from the main arm. Clusters of stars surpass
a single bright light in beauty, but can’t
match up to a more exquisite rival,
like Andromeda or Whirlpool; the scant
are ripped by those larger and more frightful.
Cosmic layouts shaped like feathers and tails:
mind-numbing forces, energies and scales.

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This comes from “The delicate aftermath of cosmic violence” , on @badastronomer’s Discover Magazine blog.

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Open Link Night, Week 25

Sonnet XXVII

Baby Stars Blasting Out Jets of Matter

In the minute birthplace of many stars,
A dazzlingly glowing blob of gas
Expels gusts of matter, blasts out scars
And hides luminaries in the dense mass.
Arc-shaped features are found within this scene;
bow-shocks rejuvenate faster than sound
as bursts of short vertical arcs careen
turbulently. Blue and red flares rebound
into violent filaments of pink.
Comma shaped jets curve into long streamers,
swimming in a mist of hydrogen ink.
Only the astronomers and dreamers
see the havoc caused on this exalted scale
where stars are born behind a gauze-like veil.

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I saw this picture in the blog of @badastronomer , AKA Phil Plait, who writes for Discover Magazine. I knew I had to write a poem about this. This was written in 2011. It’s amazing that we can see stars being born, and understand that this is what we are seeing.
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The Poetry Pantry Is Now Open! – #75

Thursday Poets Rally Week 57 (December 1-7, 2011)