2013-07-30 LV Sketchbook Page 060-Black Hole + Hydra Const-500x333 My interest in space, time, and the 'fabric of the cosmos' has given rise to some new sketchbook pieces — in fabric. This image takes the skies of the southern hemisphere for its subject, depicting an abstraction of the constellation Hydra. It is the largest of the 88 modern constellations, having been listed by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the 2nd century. Hydra's brightest star is Alphard (Alpha Hydrae), an orange giant represented by the shining orb on the right. Another of the constellation's notable features is NGC 3314, a pair of galaxies that appear superimposed from Earth yet are separated from each other by millions of light years. NGC 3314 is pictured in the blue field on the upper left. The centerpiece of my composition shows Hydra A, a galaxy cluster about 840 million light years from Earth. At the center of one of its galaxies lies a supermassive black hole that, while swallowing matter from its host galaxy, also generates large jets of material extending outward for hundreds of thousands of light years. These emissions, believed to be enriched by chemicals produced in galactic supernovae, contain significant amounts of iron and other elements, offering clues to where the complex chemicals that make up our world come from. In my assemblage, the black hole is nestled securely in its galactic pocket, tethered to the fearful water-serpent.

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