{"id":136,"date":"2022-01-24T16:44:13","date_gmt":"2022-01-24T16:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/bhpoetry\/?page_id=136"},"modified":"2022-01-24T16:49:53","modified_gmt":"2022-01-24T16:49:53","slug":"the-journey","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/bhpoetry\/the-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"The Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Sadie Jones <\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

super<\/p>\n\n\n\n

massive<\/p>\n\n\n\n

black<\/p>\n\n\n\n

holes <\/p>\n\n\n\n

exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An actual thing, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

at the very centre,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of every galaxy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

remarkable, colossal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One hundred million suns, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

squashed beyond physics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wheeled into the classroom, the large TV, the creaky wheels, our teacher, she pushes it and smiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m sat up front, first wooden bench, high on rickety wooden stool. Everyone is fixated in wonder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pure excitement of watching television in a science class. This is today\u2019s lesson, watching TV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Energy grows in all of us, the expectation, the theatre of it. Trolley wheels stop creaking, centre stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The show, Horizon<\/em>, recorded by the teacher last night, she just had to show it to us all. Today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The room is silent, brown wooden and cold \u2013 outside grey. Here we learn about Biology, normally, nature<\/p>\n\n\n\n

but these blackholes on the screen, so big. They are nature too. Apparently,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

so the screen says. How can they be? Our very own galaxy, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

all the 100 billion galaxies, they all have one. A super massive black hole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarah shouts \u2018Is this right Miss? Is this really science?\u2019 Miss responds \u2018Yes\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m totally transfixed. Behind me Kelly and Alex are giggling, some gossip, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

but I don\u2019t care. This new information, immense. My mind sparked. I didn\u2019t know! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Could our Milky Way galaxy really be the host of something so enormous?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scale and mass of it. It\u2019s all so vast. Yet, it is\u2026 real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The centre of everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can do it. You. Make maps of active galactic nuclei A.K.A supermassive black holes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

See, examine. Be the first. You know, some have jets that extend for hundreds of light years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some don\u2019t. It\u2019s a mystery. You\u2019ll get paid \u2013 to look at space, explore, travel to big telescopes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be the first to unravel it all, analyse data \u2013 this puzzling light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You will be the centre. No-one else. No-one before you, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

not this galaxy anyway, not in this way. It\u2019s an enigma,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

this science, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

a dark art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Radio waves <\/p>\n\n\n\n

extending, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

tracing jets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

X-rays too, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

mapping <\/p>\n\n\n\n

the swirl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Become <\/p>\n\n\n\n

an artist, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

a witch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interpret<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EM light. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The secrets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event<\/p>\n\n\n\n

horizon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Singularity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It will be you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You, the centre.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Sadie Jones So, super massive black holes  exist. An actual thing,  at the very centre, of every galaxy: remarkable, … More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5030,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-136","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry",""],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/bhpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/bhpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/bhpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/bhpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5030"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/bhpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/bhpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":143,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/bhpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/136\/revisions\/143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/bhpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}