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Perseus
Perseus must be happy to be so near
Andromeda, as must be Cepheus and Cassiopea. Constellations come to mind as
quickly as the zodiac, but why is it so hard to remember the names of the
individual stars? Down here we remember the heroes’ names and forget the
events. In a star I can’t see with my naked eye I can now give you eternity. For several hundred dollars I can name a star after anything I want and have that name entered in the registry. Of course I would chose your name, and if it was already taken I may even let them assign a number to your name. No, I am sure I could accept their numerology. Is it romantic that we can only see your star with a telescope?
It is because scientists have clouded
my view with extra dimensions. This is not how it is or even how it ever was.
This is only my perception of it now. Sometimes I wish I were a Babylonian so I
could perceive the stars as constant, too, but they will not let me because
stars are celestial anarchists. We cannot even wish for falling stars. We can
only wish on them.
I am after all of this was. Do I have
to not think to exist longer? I did the math and was sad to find out that no one
could ever live 100,000 days. One day time travelers will finally arrive in
Cairo, and they will try to tell the Pharaoh what we know now. And maybe they
won’t return because the map will change again.
How many colors can you identify with
the unaided eye? They talk of magnitudes, relative and absolute. Phases,
rotations, and orbits. Varying masses, giants and dwarves. There are changes in
energy levels, and exterior forces steal energy and take it in a different
direction. Galaxies are isolated or in clusters. Sometimes we are not on the
same wavelength. Sometimes we fall into black holes. Particles collide and
attract. Yes, the stars speak to us, but they don’t know that we are listening
for more than cosmic noise. They are born, grow, emit warmth, and explode in a
fit of rage or collapse and become small again or extinct. How could astronomers
know that their language of eternity would become our language of everyday life? |