phantasmagoria
Phantasmagoria: a mobile arrangement as a theatrical show using optical light effects to suggest supernatural phenomena.
Late nineteenth century, unknown location in Germany.
A constantly changing cosmic chaos in the centre of the Milky Way around Sagittarius A*. A supermassive black hole with a mass equivalent to 4 million suns and located on a distance of 25.800 lightyears. We call this radiation ‘visible light’.
Photo Heywood/Sarao 2022.
Star ‘Earendel’ (morning light) was recently discovered with Hubble space telescope, ‘at greatest distance ever’, on 12.9 billion lightyears.
‘Earendel’ originated when the universe, now 13.8 billion years old, was ‘only’ one billion years old. The light of this star has therefore been on the road for almost the entire lifetime of the cosmos before the Hubble space telescope caught it..
Star ‘Earendel’, 50 times as heavy as the sun, is long gone. This type of star burns its fuel quickly. The light we see is a glimpse into history.
Photo NasaESA, B. Welch (JHU), D.Co 2022. Arrow pointing at Earendel.
’Als je
eindelijk kunt zien
hoe de boom
vertakt
dan is het winter.’
(Jan Arends)
’If you
finally can see
how the tree
is branching
then it’s winter.’