Poem - Dark Forces
There are over 200 billion galaxies in the known universe with one common feature. At the centre of every galaxy lurks a supermassive black hole, millions/billions of times larger than our sun. The sheer size is incomprehensible to the human mind. Here is an insight into these mysterious entities.
Dark Ages
The beginning.
Singularity, BANG, so the laws of physics and cosmology declare
Where a cocktail of subatomic particles and electromagnetism ignite
Generating the building blocks of life, bound together with light
Plumes of cloud, dust and gas compete with the force of gravity
It crushes the mass through a technique called direct collapse
To create the first massive black holes as time and space elapse.
Supermassive Black Holes
Profound mystery.
In the early stages, how did these superstructures evolve?
Greedily devouring each other through a process of inflation
Or perhaps, the eerie, dark universe lies at the heart of creation
All that elusive material may have created gigantic, black stars
Who feed on dark-matter particles until it violently explodes
Creating this elusive phenomenon when it erupts and implodes.
Universe
Incomprehensible size.
Is the cosmos just one of an infinite number of vacuums in space?
A multiverse where the endless possibility of parallel universes exist
Shattering our perception of what is ‘real’ through a quantum reality twist.
Regardless, from the dark ages to stars, galaxies, clusters and superclusters
Embedded on filaments in space, floating, like a string of pearl beads
One can only imagine the extent of the whole which it supersedes.
Galaxies
Such elegance.
An eclectic mix of elliptical, irregular and spiral swirls
Each containing unimaginable beauty including the pillars of creation
Interstellar star nurseries, born inside heavenly, celestial formation
Our local group of galaxies belong to the Laniakea Supercluster
But unlike our gravitationally linked family, solid and sound
Superclusters are temporary configurations, dark energy bound.
Sagittarius A-Star*
Supernova remnant.
Lurking at the heart of our own Milky Way galaxy
A colossal vacuum in space with no luminous source
Lies a supermassive, dark and mysterious force
The Sagittarius A-Star* is thousands of light years away
The gravitational pull at the centre of this monstrous black hole
Devours material across the event horizon with no self-control.
Milky Way
Barred spiral.
Our galaxy comprises of billions of stars, dust and gas
With much more dark matter than one can imagine
All tied together by the force of gravity in action.
Safely situated in one of the swirling, galactic arms
Lies our young star and its stable planetary system
With celestial bodies, rings and moons co-existing.
Fate/Galaxy
Cosmic battle.
Within our local group, the fate of our demise awaits
The Milky Way and Andromeda galaxy lock together
By fixed gravitational forces, bound and aligned forever
In five billions years, a galactic showdown is inevitable
The supermassive black holes will infuse to become one
Creating an unfamiliar astrological structure, a new life begun.
Fate/Universe
Dark energy.
Despite the fact that the known universe is inextricably linked
A struggle between two opposing forces unfolds from the start
Where gravity attracts mass together and dark energy pulls it apart
This mysterious force, fuels expansion, towards a chilling demise
Ultimately, there is only one winner in this light versus dark extreme
Black holes, dark matter and dark energy reign absolute supreme.
©Marshall Hughes
Image Credit: NASA
