A hundred million years ago, two gargantuan forces collided in the universe. One moving right into the other. In some cases, stars were sent into super nova, planets were ejected from their orbits or destroyed completely. In other cases, whole worlds slid right past others, their distance too great to affect each other. The two galaxies merged to become one, the upheaval so great that it unraveled one of them completely to look like a tail coming from the other. Even after one hundred million years, the consequences of this collision are still apparent in the collection of stars locally known as the Comet Galaxy. When viewed from earth, it is called the Tadpole Galaxy.
What were these galaxies called before they were thrown together? How many ancient civilizations wiped out, erased from the memory of the cosmos? Speculation ran rampant among scientists in the now conjoined galaxy and the local lore suggests that only the Starless know. The hope is that somewhere in the distant future, possibly over the next billion years, the tail of the comet will swing back and roll up into the main body becoming a spiral once again. Of course, there is evidence that suggest the tail will simply break off and reform into an unstable globular galaxy. A weaker less magnificent version of what it had been in its former glory.
Theories really, as the calculations and predictions are too complex to jump to a conclusion that leans one way over the other. Something that has little impact on those living in current times. The possibilities being endless, and in that time, new stars will be born, and plenty of existing stars will inevitably burn out and die. Cataclysm and rebirth will shape and reshape the landscape of space in new fantastic and unpredictable ways. Rogue black holes will devour entire systems, Proto-worlds will cool and new life emerge, binary star systems will consume each other as jets of plasma tie them together. Cosmic dust will condense and warm, creating nurseries for hopeful new suns and the planets they will one day hold in their orbits. Civilizations will rise and fall and through it all we will not be able to predict what that will look like in any significant way.
What does that mean for the occupants of the Comet galaxy? The same as the rest of the Universe, we can only face it one day at a time.
Comments