Shockwave (Wisps of the Veil)

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Wisps of the Veil Nebula. Wisps like this are all that remain visible of a Milky Way star. About 9,000 years ago that star exploded in a supernova leaving the Veil Nebula, also known as the Cygnus Loop. At the time, the expanding cloud was likely as bright as a crescent Moon, remaining visible for weeks to people living at the dawn of recorded history. Today, the resulting supernova remnant  has faded and is now visible only through a small telescope directed toward the constellation of the Swan (Cygnus). The remaining Veil Nebula is physically huge, however, and even though it lies about 1,400 light-years distant, it covers over five times the size of the full Moon. In images like this  of the complete Veil Nebula, studious readers should be able to identify several of the individual filaments. A bright wisp at the right is known as the Witch's Broom Nebula: image and copyright by Joaquin Ferreiros (NASA), 26 November 2012

What

I'm doing
is creating
interesting
patterns
in the
discharge
of a
supernova
until
someday when
another
aspect of
the
supernova
will
stomp me
in the
face
and put
me in
a
casket.

 

Smoke-like Wisps in the Veil Nebula, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 instrument, November 1997, with an exposure time of 7400 seconds: image by William P. Blair and Ravi Sankrit (Johns Hopkins University), NASA, ESA, 10 October 2000 (Hubble European Information Centre)



The Cygnus Loop. The shockwave from a 20,000-year-old supernova explosion in the constellation of Cygnus is still expanding into interstellar space. The collision of this fast moving wall of gas with a stationary cloud has heated it causing it to glow in a spectacular array of visible colours as well as high energy radiation, producing the nebula known as the Cygnus Loop (NGC 6960/95). The nebula is located a mere 1,400 light-years away.  The colors used here indicate emission from different kinds of atoms excited by the shock: oxygen-blue, sulfur-red, and hydrogen-green. This picture was taken with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 on board the Hubble Space telescope: image by J. Hester (ASU), NASA, 23 June 2001 (NASA)

 

Rampaging Fronts of the Veil Nebula. A supernova explosion of a high-mass star results in fast moving blast waves. At the front of the waves shown above, ionized gas in the Veil Supernova Remnant rushes out from the explosion, sweeps up material, and breaks up many atoms into constituent ions and electrons. Observations with the Hubble Space Telescope in 1993 indicate that the blue shock wave was catapulted away from the stellar explosion after the red shock wave and has yet to catch up to it in some regions. The Veil Supernova Remnant has a very large angular size -- six times the diameter of the full moon -- and different parts of it are known as the "Cygnus Loop" and catalog numbers NGC 6960, NGC 6979, NGC 6992, and NGC 6995: image by J. J. Hester (Arizona State University), WFPC, HST, NASA, 7 March 1996 (NASA)



Cygnus Loop Supernova Blast Wave. This is an image of a small portion of the Cygnus Loop supernova remnant, which marks the edge of a bubble-like, expanding blast wave from a colossal stellar explosion, occurring about 15,000 years ago. The Hubble Space Telescope image shows the structure behind the shock waves, allowing astronomers for the first time to directly compare the actual structure of the shock with theoretical model calculations. Besides supernova remnants, these shock models are important in understanding a wide range of astrophysical phenomena, from winds in newly-formed stars to cataclysmic stellar outbursts. The supernova blast is slamming into tenuous clouds of interstellar gas. This collision heats and compresses the gas, causing it to glow. The shock thus acts as a searchlight revealing the structure of the interstellar medium. The detailed HST image shows the blast wave overrunning dense clumps of gas, which despite HST's high resolution, cannot be resolved. This means that the clumps of gas must be small enough to fit inside our solar system, making them relatively small structures by interstellar standards. A bluish ribbon of light stretching left to right across the picture might be a knot of gas ejected by the supernova; this interstellar "bullet" traveling over three million miles per hour (5 million kilometres) is just catching up with the shock front, which has slowed down by plowing into interstellar material. The Cygnus Loop appears as a faint ring of glowing gases about three degrees across (six times the diameter of the full Moon), located in the northern constellation, Cygnus the Swan. The supernova remnant is within the plane of our Milky Way galaxy and is 2,600 light-years away. The photo is a combination of separate images taken in three colors: oxygen atoms (blue) emit light at temperatures of 30,000 to 60,000 degrees Celsius (50,000 to 100,000 degrees Fahrenheit); hydrogen atoms (green) arise throughout the region of shocked gas; sulfur atoms (red) form when the gas cools to around 10,000 degrees Celsius (18,000 degrees Fahrenheit): image by J. J. Hester (Arizona State University), NASA, 1 January 1993 (NASA)

  

Filaments In The Cygnus Loop. Subtle and delicate in appearance, these are filaments of shocked interstellar gas -- part of the expanding blast wave from a violent stellar explosion. Recorded in November 1997 with the Wide Field and Planetary 2 Camera on board the Hubble Space Telescope, the picture  is a closeup of a supernova remnant known as the Cygnus Loop. The nearly edge-on view shows a small portion of the immense shock front moving toward the top of the frame at about 170 kilometers per second while glowing in light emitted by atoms of excited  Hydrogen gas. Not just another pretty picture, this particular image has provided some dramatic scientific results. In 1999, researchers used it to substantially revise downward widely accepted estimates of distance and age for this classic supernova remnant. Now determined to lie only 1,440 light-years away, the Cygnus Loop is thought to have been expanding for 5-10 thousand years: image by William P. Blair and Ravi Sankrit (Johns Hopkins University), NASA, 26 April 2000


   

The Veil Unveiled. These wisps of gas are all that remain visible of a Milky Way star. Many thousands of years ago that star exploded in a supernova leaving the Veil Nebula, pictured above. At the time, the expanding cloud was likely as bright as a crescent Moon toward the constellation Cygnus, visible for weeks to people living at the dawn of recorded history. The supernova remnant lies about 1400 light-years away and covers over five times the size of the full Moon. The above image of the Veil was made clearer by digitally dimming stars in the frame. The bright wisp at the top is known as the Witch's Broom Nebula and can be seen with a small telescope. The Veil Nebula is also known as the Cygnus Loop: image and copyright by Mikael Svalgaard, 6 December 2005 (NASA)

 

   
NGC 6992: A Glimpse of the Veil.  After 5,000 years, the gorgeous Veil Nebula is still turning heads. Catalogued as NGC 6992, these glowing filaments of interstellar shocked gas are part of a larger spherical supernova remnant known as the Cygnus Loop or the Veil Nebula -- expanding debris from a star which exploded  over 5,000 years ago. This color digital image of a bit of the Veil has been processed and enhanced to reveal stunning details in the diaphanous cosmic cloud. Seen from our perspective against a rich Milky Way star field, the Veil Nebula is now known to lie some 1,400 light-years away toward the constellation Cygnus. At that distance, witnesses to the original stellar explosion would have seen a star in the heavens increase in brightness to about -8 magnitude, roughly corresponding to the brightness of the crescent Moon: image and copyright by Steve Mandel, Hidden Valley Observatory, 28 September 2001 (NASA)

Ultraviolet Image of the Cygnus Loop Nebula. Wispy tendrils of hot dust and gas glow brightly in this ultraviolet image of the Cygnus Loop Nebula, taken by NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer. The nebula lies about 1,500 light-years away, and is a supernova remnant, left over from a massive stellar explosion that occurred 5,000-8,000 years ago. The Cygnus Loop extends more than three times the size of the full moon in the night sky, and is tucked next to one of the 'swan’s wings' in the constellation of Cygnus. The filaments of gas and dust visible here in ultraviolet light were heated by the shockwave from the supernova, which is still spreading outward from the original explosion. The original supernova would have been bright enough to be seen clearly from Earth with the naked eye: image by NASA /JPL-Caltech, 26 March 2012 (NASA)

This image is a stunning close-up of the Veil Nebula -- the shattered remains of a supernova that exploded some 5-10,000 years ago. The image provides a beautiful view of the delicate, wispy structure resulting from this cosmic explosion. Also known as Cygnus Loop, the Veil Nebula is located in the constellation of Cygnus, the Swan, and is about 1,500 light-years away from Earth.This small portion of the Veil Nebula is located in the larger segment seen in its western part (the top left corner of the large ground-based overview image). The entire structure spans about 3 degrees, corresponding to about 6 full moons. The image was taken with Hubble's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2). The colour is produced by composite of three different images. The different colours indicate emission from different kinds of atoms excited by the shock: blue shows oxygen, green shows sulphur, and red shows hydrogen: image by J. J. Hester (Arizona State University), NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration, 31 July 2007 (NASA)

Portion of the Veil Nebula as photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope. This image is a composite of many separate exposures made by the WFPC2 instrument on the HST. Three filters were used to sample narrow wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic image. In this case, the assigned colors are: F502N ([O III]) blue; F656N (Halpha) green; F673N ([S II]) red: image created from HST data (exposure dates November 1994 / August 1997) in proposals 5774 and 5779 by J. Hester (Arizona State University) and J. Westphal (Caltech); image by NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration, 2 August 2007 (NASA)

  Pickering's Triangle from Kitt Peak. Wisps like this are all that remain visible of a Milky Way star. About 7,500 years ago that star exploded in a supernova leaving the Veil Nebula, also known as the Cygnus Loop. At the time, the expanding cloud was likely as bright as a crescent Moon, remaining visible for weeks to people living at the dawn of recorded history. Today, the resulting supernova remnant has faded and is now visible only through a small telescope directed toward the constellation Cygnus.  The remaining Veil Nebula is physically huge, however, and even though it lies about 1,400 light-years distant, it covers over five times the size of the full Moon. In images of the complete Veil Nebula, studious readers should be able to identify the Pickering's Triangle component pictured above, a component named for a famous astronomer  and the wisp's approximate shape. The above image is a mosaic from the 4-meter Mayall Telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory, Arizona: image by T. Rector (U. Alaska Anchorage), H. Schweiker, WIYN, NOAO, AURA, NSF, 1 July 2008 (NASA)  


Western Veil  of the Veil Nebula (aka Caldwell 34), consisting of NGC 6960 (the "Witch's Broom"), near the foreground star 52 Cygni: image by Hewlohooks (Hunter Wilson), 12 June 2007

Eastern Veil of the Veil Nebula (NGC6992/6995), bicolor Ha/OIII: image by Hewlohooks (Hunter Wilson), 26 August 2010

Eastern Veil of the Veil Nebula NGC 6992 (detail): image by Astrogallery (Antonio Ferretti / Albert Martinez Castillo), 25 August 2006

 

A Spectre in the Eastern Veil. Menacing flying forms and garish colors are a mark of the Halloween season. They also stand out in this cosmic close-up of the eastern Veil Nebula. The Veil Nebula itself is a large supernova remnant, the expanding debris cloud from the death explosion of a massive star. While the Veil is roughly circular in shape covering nearly 3 degrees on the sky in the constellation Cygnus, this portion of the eastern Veil spans only 1/2 degree, about the apparent size of the Moon. That translates to 12 light-years at the Veil's estimated distance of 1,400 light-years from planet Earth. In this composite of image data recorded through narrow band  filters, emission from hydrogen atoms in the remnant is shown in red with strong emission from oxygen atoms in greenish hues. In the western part of the Veil lies another seasonal apparition, the Witch's Broom: image by Paul Mortfield, Stefano Cancelli, 1 November 2008  (NASA)

 
The Veil Nebula. Delicate in appearance, these filaments of shocked, glowing gas, draped in planet Earth's sky toward the constellation of Cygnus, make up the Veil Nebula. The nebula is a large supernova remnant, an expanding cloud born of the death explosion of a massive star. Light from the original supernova explosion likely reached Earth over 5,000 years ago. Also known as the Cygnus Loop, the Veil Nebula now spans nearly 3 degrees or about 6 times the diameter of the full Moon. That translates to over 70 light-years at its estimated distance of 1,500 light-years. In fact, the Veil is so large its brighter parts are recognized as separate nebulae, including The Witch's Broom (NGC 6960) at the bottom of this stunning skyview and Pickering's Triangle (NGC 6979) below and right of center. At the top is the haunting IC 1340: image and copyright by Martin Pugh, 16 September 2010 (NASA)

Approaching Storm Front

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Study of Clouds, Rome: Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes (1750-1819), 1780s, oil on paper mounted on board, 24 x 39 cm (Musée du Louvre, Paris)

My heart, then, though small, was full -- having caught
In summer through the fractured wall a glimpse
Of daylight, at the thought of where I was
I gladdened more than if I had beheld
Before me some bright cavern of Romance,
Or than we do, when on our beds we lie
At night, in warmth, when rains are beating hard,
The radio playing -- a distant ballgame
In some city we've never seen, but dreamed,
And then, the rain driving through the night
Silences everything the passing years
Incorporate into their dying bodies,
The way stars dissolve, with long thinking,
Into the harrowed centres of themselves.

 
Study of Clouds over the Roman Campagna: Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes (1750-1819), 1782-1785, oil on paper mounted on paperboard, 20 x 33 cm (National Gallery of Art, Washington)

Nocturne

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Raccoon on roof, early morning: photo by Carsten Volkwein, 2007

Self reborn as lotus in head

better late than never low in the southwest

the full moon a half degree wide
.................just after sunset peeping

.........later still, indigo cheesecloth night

Redwood cloaked in fog
raccoons moving from floor to floor,
........from room to room
in the fog,

with a sound like thin paper tearing.

Raccoons in a tree: photo by Gary J. Wood, 2006

 

 

Raccoon (procyon lotor): photo by Darkone, 2005

Looking up

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Chicago, night: photo by photoalvin (Alvin Shubert), 22 May 2009

Looking up, prostrate
on concrete
tented in the soft glow
of the arc lamps
.......overhead, a nimbus
or mist, as of being
becalmed at sea

Chicago, night: photo by photoalvin (Alvin Shubert), 22 May 2009

Chicago, night: photo by photoalvin (Alvin Shubert), 22 May 2009

Anna Akhmatova: Crucifixion (from Requiem)

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 Kitchen Scene with Christ in the House of Martha and Mary: Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velázquez (1599-1660), c. 1618, oil on canvas, 60 x 103.5 cm (National Gallery, London)

Weep not for me, mother.
I am alive in my grave.

1.

A choir of angels glorified the greatest hour,
The heavens melted into flames.
To his father he said, 'Why hast thou forsaken me!'
But to his mother, 'Weep not for me. . .'

[1940. Fontannyi Dom]

2.

Magdalena smote herself and wept,
The favourite disciple turned to stone,
But there, where the mother stood silent,
Not one person dared to look.

[1943. Tashkent] 

Anna Akhmatova: Crucifixion, 1.10.7 from Requiem, 1935-1940 (first published in 1963, but not in complete form until 1987); translation by Sasha Soldatow, 1993

 

Portrait of Anna Akhmatova: Natan Altman, 1914, oil on canvas (State Russian Museum)

Nikolai Gumilev (1886-1921), Lev Gumilev (1912-1992) and Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966): photographer unknown, 1913 or 1916

Kitchen Scene with Christ in the House of Martha and Mary (detail): Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velázquez (1599 - 1660), c. 1618, oil on canvas, 60 x 103,5 cm (National Gallery, London)

Kitchen Scene with Christ in the House of Martha and Mary (after 1969 restoration): Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velázquez (1599-1660), c. 1618, oil on canvas, 60 x 103.5 cm (National Gallery, London)

The Empty God

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Snowy parking lot at night, Greektown, Chicago: photo by photoalvin (Alvin Shubert), 10 February 2010

The street preacher spoke of Christ's withdrawal of his own luminosity into himself, so as to cease dazzling his disciples. A cold wind blew through the empty parking lot on the other side of the street.

Empty parking lot at night: photo by Jarshua (Josh Wunder), 6 August 2011

City lights in parking lot: photo by [insert s/n], 26 December 2008

Empty parking lot at night: photo by daily44s, n.d.



Empty Parking Lot at Night, Lorain, Ohio: photo by The Jenk (Matt Jenkins), 11 November 2007

Parking lot, Thunder Bay, Ontario: photo by Phillip Girondin, 19 October 2010



Parking lot lit monsoon: photo by Brn King (Brian), 6 September 2010

Vicente Huidobro: Poetry Is a Celestial Transgression

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Beech tree graffiti. None of the usual initials inside a heart shape are on this tree by the B6397 near Smailholm. The smooth thin bark on a beech tree has always been a target for youngsters with a penknife: photo by Walter Baxter, 9 February 2008

I'm not here but at the depths of this not being here
There is a waiting for myself
And this vigil is another way of being here a waiting
For myself to come back into myself 

While waiting I go out
Into other
Objects

In this going out I give away a little of my life
To certain trees certain stones
That have been waiting for me
All these years

Tired of waiting they have given up hope and fallen back
Into themselves

I'm not and I am
I'm not here and I am here
In a waiting
State
They wanted
My language
To express them
And I wanted theirs
To express
Them
And in this lay the mistake the great

Error

This pathetic state
Carving myself deeper into these plants
My clothes falling away from my bones
My bones reclothing themselves in bark
I'm beginning to feel like I've become
A tree I've been changing myself
Into so many other things how dolorous
How tender

I could cry out but this cry would frighten away the desired
Transubstantiation
Must keep silent Waiting completely
Silent

Vicente Huidobro: Juan Gris, c. 1917

Yo estoy ausente pero en el fondo de esta ausencia
Hay la espera de mí mismo
Y esta espera es otro modo de presencia
La espera de mi retorno
Yo estoy en otros objetos
Ando en viaje dando un poco de mi vida
A ciertos árboles y a ciertas piedras
Que me han esperado muchos años

Se cansaron de esperarme y se sentaron

Yo no estoy y estoy
Estoy ausente y estoy presente en estado de espera
Ellos querrían mi lenguaje para expresarse
Y yo querría el de ellos para expresarlos
He aquí el equívoco el atroz equívoco

Angustioso lamentable
Me voy adentrando en estas plantas
Voy dejando mis ropas
Se me van cayendo las carnes
Y mi esqueleto se va revistiendo de cortezas
Me estoy haciendo árbol Cuántas cosas me he ido convirtiendo en otras cosas...
Es doloroso y lleno de ternura

Podría dar un grito pero se espantaría la transubstanciación
Hay que guardar silencio Esperar en silencio

Vicente García-Huidobro Fernández (1893-1948): La Poesía es un atentado celeste from Últimos Poemas (Later Poems), 1948; English version by TC

Vicente Huidobro (1893-1948): photographer unknown, n.d. (Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid)

 

Tumba Vicente Huidobro, Cartagena (Chile): photo by provinciasanantonio, 10 August 2009

 

Vicente Huidobro -- Tout à coup: Pablo Picasso, 1921; image by Iliazd, 30 January 2009

 

Cienfuegos #33, Santiago, donde vivió Vicente Huidobro: photo by romántica santiaguina (Sara Ruiz), 23 October 2012

Asger Schnack: Aqua

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Steilküste bei Elmenhorst: photo by Ch. Pagenkopf, 10 June 2007

we operate with the joyful concepts don’t know for example
words like dissimulation or jealousy it is
another war we are fighting it is the direct
connection it is a language filled to the brim with
words like applejuice waterfall and rubbertree

like children who have their eyes full of the world and don’t
let themselves be disturbed like an automatic machinegun
loaded with polaroid shots from an endless summer
or like a library reading room lined with absorbent cotton and
not a single piece of news about perverse torture

we have examined the world and we have taken a stand
we are to be found in the impossible combination and
nowhere else we are not afraid to use love
we are not through with it no matter how many times
the shadow of the third world war appears on the horizon

there are front pages and there is the terrible truth
and we look with open eyes at the marching army
of newsbulletins but our hands are tied by our confidence in
a sexual liberation sometime in a coming language
well then that’s our method because we have thought about it

in our hearts it’s raining a silent rain of classical
poetry and punk we can show our powerlessness
and can deny the existence of anything but grapes
we can discuss the meaning of the word victory we can
bring it in doubt and we can besiege beauty in order to survive 

Asger Schack (b. 1949): from Aqua (Kvint), 1980; translated from the Danish by Alexander Taylor and Asger Schnack, 1982

 

Top of a small wave, Baltic Sea, Mielno: photo by Marek Nowocien, 27 June 2006

 

 

Middle of Skagerrak: photo by Tomasz Sienicki, 13 April 2005

Allen Upward: The Waterspout: Strength Turning Inside Out

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Waterspout close to the shoreline near Batemans Bay, 140 miles south of Sydney, 18 November 2012: photo by Reuters / NSWRFS / Phil Caminiti

The story of the waterspout, as it is told in books, shows it to be a brief-lived tree. A cloud is whirling downwards, and sucking out its whirlpoint toward the sea, like a sucking mouth. The sea below whirls upward, thrusting out its whirlpoint towards the cloud. The two ends meet, and the water swept up in the sea-whirl passes out into the cloud-whirl, and swirls up through it, as it were gain-saying it. . . .

In the ideal waterspout, not only does the water swirl upwards through the cloud-whirl, but the cloud swirls downwards through the sea-whirl. . . .

The ideal waterspout is not yet complete. The upper half must unfold like a fan, only it unfolds all around like a flower-cup; and it does not leave the cup empty, so that this flower is like a chrysanthemum. At the same time the lower half has unfolded in the same way, till there are two chrysanthemums back to back. . . .

It is strength turning inside out. Such is the true beat of strength, the first beat, from which all others part, the beat we feel in all things which come within our measure, in ourselves, and in our starry world. . . .
 

Allen Upward: from The New Word, written 1901, self-published 1908

Residents view huge waterspout close to the shoreline near Batemans Bay, 140 miles south of Sydney, 18 November 2012: photographer unknown, via the Sun

A giant waterspout is seen over Hongze Lake in eastern China’s Jiangsu Province, 29 August 2012: photo by Yue Mingyou / Rex Features

Waterspout, seen from Clifton, Woolongong, New South Wales: photo by dirtymouse, 22 April 2007

Waterspout off the Florida Keys:: photo by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 1969

Waterspouts in the Bahamas Islands: photo by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, n.d.

 

Tornado waterspout near Cape Formentor, Mallorca: photo by Julian Kupfer, 2006

Waterspout off Singapore coast: photo by Sgyjk, 25 September 2011

 

Twin waterspouts, Kakaaka Waterfront Park, Honolulu: photo by rubbah slippahs, 2 May 2011

 

Twin waterspouts, Kakaaka Waterfront Park, Honolulu  (last gasp, just before the spout on the left dissipated): photo by rubbah slippahs, 2 May 2011

Waterspout: photo by SICAL808, 2 May 2011

Trombe marine a rion antirion (Grèce): photo by Bruno Arnaud, 15 December 2007

  
 

Tromba marina da Caia d'Oro, Solenzara (Corse): photo by azuk, 26 July 2010

Tra cielo e mare (Civitanova, Marche, Italy): photo by F. Fausta, 9 October 2011

Waterspouts seen from the air, approx. 1200 feet high, about 40nm north of Vanderlin Island, Gulf of Carpentaria, Northern Territory, Australia: photo by Tony (austr07), 1987; image 27 August 2009
 

Waterspouts over Bondi Beach, Sydney: photo by Dave Keeshan, 7 April 2007

Waterspout, Alanya, Antalya Province, Turkey: photo by rinselsbacher (Ralph Inselsbacher), 11 September 2002

Waterspout, Lennox Head, New South Wales: photo by erniesusie (Ian Tester), 15 July 2010