UniVerses

Space

These are two images from NASA. On the left is a spiral galaxy taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. On the right is the spiral of a huricaine from the International Space Station.  

space

milky spirals: hives of of energy
four hundred billion stars by force embraced.
within  the gravid coils spin synergy
without the spinning orbits’ frigid space
cross distances beyond imagination
the dance is mathematically precise.
atomic scales defy our calculation.
the quantum mechanical device
can only forecast probabilities
either where or when but never both,
bizarre phenomenal uncertainties
a type of chaos which our senses loathe.
opposed in scale and predictability
these involute at both extremities.

Looking out, towards the heavens, the vastness of space is astonishing. Within our galaxy, the Milky Way, are some four hundred billion stars. Beyond that, millions of light years away, are other galaxies, each containing hundreds of billions of stars. The mechanics of  motion in this space are highly predictable. 

Looking in, we seek to understand the fundamental particles which make up matter as we know it. In this search for the infinitesimal, the particles get smaller and the intervening spaces larger.

In the subatomic world the mathematical rules that govern motion defy our instincts. Here the rules of Quantum Mechanics prevail, and our familiar world of cause and effect is replaced by laws of probability.For example, in Quantum space a particle can move from point A to point B without traveling the intervening space. It can simply show up at B by “tunneling.”

Thus our concept of space, cause and effect diverges in these two perspectives.

Let us trace the galactic thread, starting with the earliest residue after creation.

Text Copyright 2009 Robert Parker Lenk. All rights reserved.

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