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Blatant hijacking - into the "Sin Bin"
tellomon:
:sinbin:
*CountessA*:
--- Quote from: tellomon on April 03, 2022, 02:45:20 PM ---What galaxy? Whos galaxy?
Define galaxy.
--- End quote ---
Loose gathering of astronomical bodies - stars and solar systems and other phenomena - and vast swathes of interstellar dust and gas, held by gravity in such a way that even if the bond is tenuous, the astronomical collection is clearly defined within the larger context of the universe.
If you were looking at the universe - the great width and depth and height and colour and taste of it, the sum of the visible or material, the entire expanse bound within what we know as time and space - if you were looking at it spread out before you, you would see distinct blotches or gatherings, separate from the vast darkness and visual emptiness and mind-boggling distance that makes up intergalactical space. Those blotches are like islands, scattered here and there, and the space between them is like a great ocean. You would see the shapes and elongations and concentration of matter with a more-or-less distinct outline, forming each separate galaxy.
If you were then to draw closer to one of those galaxies, the better to make out the details, you would gradually see that the distinct outline and concentration of matter is not a solid thing, but rather what looks like a universe in its own right. The shape might be one of several possibilities; let's say that we are looking at a spiral galaxy. Come closer, and what is revealed is a vastness of comparatively empty space within that galaxy, punctuated by splashes of light. At first they are but pinpricks, and many of these are fuzzy and without detail. Come closer again, and some of those pinpricks become clearer. They are not all alike; they are not all the same. They are the glories of the night sky, some achingly distant from your viewpoint, and some nearer so that you can make out some structure. It is rich and detailed and fantastical, and some areas are brighter by far than others. Some areas are less dense, while some are as spectacularly vibrant as a peacock's tail.
Were you to draw closer still, you would make out systems within this galaxy. Extraordinary history is painted upon the darkness, and the stuff of the universe is laid out for you to admire. Suns alight with the heart of power, satellites circling other bodies and possibly mirroring the glory of the sun, comets with great swathing tails of flame, cold planets and asteroids and belts of jagged studs, matter of strange properties, areas of immense pull and a deadly compression down to less than the head of a pin, frozen wastes and burning rocks... and there are systems ruled by a great light, each separate planet lain in its course and moving in accordance with laws of motion that we can only deduce by observation and mathematics.
Finally you may find a modest system orbiting a sun that burns with just sufficient energy for its attendants; planets varying in size and in their distance from the sun move against the moving sun, in a complicated dance choreographed by gravity. These planets speak of the substance of the universe in different costumes and in different materials forming their composition. An icy acidic storm of tremendous ferocity... an eternal and burning desert... gases tumbling within the confines of a great boundary... rare minerals, children born of the wild elements...
And within each object in this macro universe of ours, the visible world, there are orbits of elements and beyond that are yet stranger realms. We are not at the absolute heart of our universe yet, and there is still so much to learn. Reality is like a box within a box within a box within a box within ... etc.
*Brum6y*:
--- Quote from: tellomon on April 03, 2022, 02:45:20 PM ---What galaxy? Whos galaxy?
Define galaxy.
--- End quote ---
Bunch of stars.
tellomon:
Am I supposed to read all that?
Thanks to brum6y for his insightful summary.
*CountessA*:
You're supposed to read that.
"comets with great swathing tails of flame, cold planets and asteroids and belts of jagged studs" ... come on, how could you not love reading that?
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