CHAPTER V
Grand Cosmos i
Wonder 5
( Grandeur- Children of the Stars )
The more we think about it
the more we peep into deep
admiring milky way full of stars
for its beauty, before falling asleep .
And start dreaming about all that lies
beyond that veil studded with sparkling lights
for Nature loves to play hide and seek
letting Man discover and unveil its beauties .
Thinking it I dosed off into deep slumber
and lo my mind began to wander
my soul rocketed higher and higher
seeking to uncover mysteries of Nature .
Oh! how we love the night sky
right from the days we were shy
little kids learning to speak syllabi
listening to nursery rhymes, still cry
waving little hands saying ta ta by by
copying the gestures of mother nearby .
And it is a part of our sweet memories
till today
mother pointing myriad stars in the night sky
every day
singing “twinkle twinkle little stars” in a
melodious voice
as we gazed full of surprise at the
“ diamonds in the sky ’’
Those were the happiest days of our life really
when we cried for moon & mother could’nt passify
And now when we tell to our dear grand children
the same stories we heard from our grand parents
with great abandon.
and sing the same rhymes in that very sing- song
fashion
while looking after little ones, with care
and caution .
oh! how we ourselves feel the same thrills again
reliving childhood with surprises the same again
and I for one am even more eager to now know
more and more of the sky above and earth below
.
My wonder at the Nature’s wonders has only
deepened
and with the passing time my thirst has only
intensified
to pry into nature’s secrets which she shows and yet
hides
about the shining bright figures- tempting from the
high .
oh! how I wish I could ride the rays of sun or moon
and rocket beyond them and zoom and zoom
playing merrily with the stars and saying hello
to nebulae and galaxies that lie far far from the hallo
of our milky way, bathed in a soft gentle glow
And my curiosity mounts with leaps and bounds aho .
And more so really when I came to know
that we are the ‘‘Children of the Stars”-oh no !
you may find it difficult to believe
so did I when first it did strike me
but was ultimately led to believe
how and why you can yourself see .
Our beautiful Cosmos
was eternal! or was it born ?
why and what for and how ?
some say God knows !
Scientists say some how !
as such it is a mystery even now .
.But 14 billion years ago
in its observable scenario
certainly there was a transformation
we have this much pakka information
based on Einstein’s theories, ideas of Maitre
confirmed by Hubble’s scientific observations .
That energy and ‘matter’ that was
could not remain confined any more
in its small volume we are sure
and suddenly it began to expand
and expanded with a loud “Big Bang” .
There were “fire works’’ of a sort
As it sparkled with a million Quarks
And radiating microwaves and light
it inflated speedily ‘day’ and ‘night’
The Cosmic Clock began to Click
for now Time began to tick
Hours began to count, minutes matter
seconds nay Nona seconds began to fly .
As the Space began to expand and
the hot Plasma ‘soup’ began to cool
Protons, electrons and neutrons formed
and a little later when conditions favored
They combined so that there very soon
the atoms of the very first elements appeared .
The creation as we know had begun
with the lightest , simplest element
Hydrogen first and then Helium and then
Lithium in due course there and then .
This primordial synthesis marked an
important event in the march of time
it however created only their isotopes
being soon overtaken by other events
at that time .
This ‘New Matter’ along with ‘Dark matter’
and the Cosmic energy – ‘ light ’ and ‘Dark’
created a new scenario in an expanding Universe
which marked an end of first plasma era in cosmos .
The falling temperature, continuing expansion
gravity playing role increasingly in evolution
led to decoupling of energy and matter and
all this opened the way for star formation.
The first stars shining in the firmament
began synthesizing heavier elements
and sparkling with new light they
made sky beautiful in their own way .
Their light broke atoms and produced ions
inaugurating second plasma era then there.
Reactions between matter old and new and
the energy and gravity adding their due then
created such reactions in an expanding universe
that they produced successive generations of stars
in the cosmos . .
These stars due to gravity’s action formed clusters
soon
and the process of formation of galaxies began anon
the sky began looking more like one we see these
days
for the modern universe had come into existence
by grace
of God if you believe in one ,or by Nature as
scientists say
and for appreciating its qualities and admiring its
beauty
we have to familiarize with the life cycle of stars in
its kitty.
And Scientist Hoyle found out one day
That stars change and change every day !
They are born, grow and develop and die,
much like us they lead an active ‘life’
during which they synthesize heavy elements,
produce radiation and shine with very bright light .
These stars are produced in very large clouds
of molecular Hydrogen
and may be smaller, equal or bigger than our Sun ;
They produce elements in their life time up to Oxygen
but near their end become Red-giant and thereafter
in their death throes depending on their type either
expel glowing colourful Nebulae of various shapes
and size
and become White-dwarf themselves or exploding
violently become a Super-nova in due course of time ;
These events are of paramount importance for us
for elements heavier than oxygen are produced
including the elements essential for life to flourish
on earth during these catastrophic developments .
.
they also constitute some of the most beautiful scenes
and lovely scenarios which Nature bestows
and lets us view them albeit mainly through telescopes .
That apart what matters for us most is that it is true
that ‘every atom of calcium in our bones’
and “every atom of iron in our blood”
is a gift of godly stars in our galaxy
bequeathed to us, like a ‘father’ in heavens
and inherited through our ‘mother’ earth by us
So we are really ‘children of the stars’ as they say
and it behoves us to be grateful to them and say thank you .
Santosh ‘Ratan’
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