Analysis of recently collected comet dust forces revision of comet formation theory. Astronomers previously believed that comets were born exclusively in the icy expanses beyond Neptune. Their current findings suggest our solar system shakes itself up at the microscopic level from its fiery center to its frigid edges. There's some poetry in that.
Scientists surmise that some material comets carry originated from matter that flirted with the sun (dear Icarus) where it was subjected to superhigh temperatures. This material was then projectile-vomited into the far reaches of the solar system to be gathered up into growing comets. There may be some poetry in that. Or there may be too many fraternity jokes waiting to be told.
I love science, how it sharpens my knowing, small and large. I love dust, too (sniff, sneeze, I appreciate that which I cannot see); in the end, we're nothing but. There's got to be much poetry in that.
Yet I think about how ridiculous some scientific conclusions one hundred years ago look today. We're so damned certain of what we know.
I think the sun could spew now -- now -- now -- and we wouldn't know any differently. And that's the poem.
Comments