Friday, August 12, 2011

Twinkle Twinkle...er....not quite little star! :)


Check out this wonderful poem on the old nursery rhyme "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"! I so shamelessly nicked it from the Wikipedia!
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
I know exactly what you are
Opaque ball of hot dense gas
Million times our planet's mass
Looking small because you're far
I know exactly what you are
Fusing atoms in your core
Hydrogen, helium, carbon and more
With such power you shine far
Twinkle twinkle little star
Classed by their spectroscopy
Oh, Be A Fine Girl Kiss Me
Bright when close and faint when far
I know exactly what you are
Smallest ones burn cool and slow
Still too hot to visit, though
Red stars dominate by far
Twinkle twinkle little star
Largest ones are hot and blue
Supernova when they're through
Then black hole or neutron star
I know exactly what you are
Our Sun's average as stars go
Formed 5 billion years ago
Halfway through its life so far
Twinkle twinkle little star
Forming from collapsing clouds
Cold and dusty gas enshrouds
Spinning, heating protostar
I know exactly what you are
Often forming multiply
Clusters bound by gravity
Open type or globular
Twinkle twinkle little star
So, How is it? I only wish I knew who the original author of this poem is! I swear, I'd hug the person and gift him a rubber mallet! :D

3 comments :

  1. I know the original author! What's with the rubber mallet?

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  2. Hi Jason, You're so lucky to know someone who was genius enough to pen something like that down!

    As for the rubber mallet, there are so many ways to use that thing... though frankly speaking right now, all I can think of doing is whacking random errant people who underestimate Grammar and Physics!

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  3. Authors are Julia Kregenow and Jason Wright, astronomers at Penn State University. We're glad you like it!

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