Spider Webs and Galaxies

In Puna driving toward Pohoiki down Mango Road

Early one morning last week, my girlfriend Jan and I hopped in the car for a 12 minute ride down for a swim at one of Puna's favorite places on Hawaii's Big Island.

Wearing suits, sarongs and sandals and riding with car windows wide open we passed through the mile long sylvan tunnel locally known as “Mango Road” where branches of the ancient mango trees glowed in the morning sun. While rays of light flickered through the rich dark green canopy cool lavender shadows laced the underbrush.

As we both enjoyed the magic light, we were suddenly and simultaneously stunned at an unusual sight. There in the high treetops of the overarching branches were hundreds of spider webs, like galaxies, tilted at every angle, backlit by the sunlight and prisms of rainbows.  With the car fully stopped in the middle of the one-lane road, we were awestruck and silent. And we both also knew that when the light changed the vision we witnessed would be gone – gone in the way such ephemeral things vanish.

Gemini Legacy image of the galaxy "herd" VV 166

Even so, the next day, I spent an hour finding that same spot – a near impossibility on that stretch of tree-lined roadway.  Ready to give up my walking back and forth with stretched neck muscles, I turned around one last time – and THERE THEY WERE!  Of course I took photos, none of which begin to capture what Jan and I saw, or even what I saw the following day. I was very much reminded of galaxies in deep far reaches that are like spider webs woven in space.  In fact, there is actually a cluster of galaxies that are called “The Spiderweb.”

We are especially excited to share a BRAND NEW image with you from GEMINI Observatory taken right here from Mauna Kea!!!  Here is a quote that tells a little about this image.

A compelling new image from Gemini Observatory peers into the heart of a group of galaxies (VV166) traveling through space together. The variety of galactic forms range from a perfect spiral, to featureless blobs and present, at a glance, a sampling of the diversity and evolution of galaxies. Galaxy groups important laboratories for studying how galaxies form and evolve beyond our own Local Group of galaxies, which includes the Milky Way and the Great Spiral in Andromeda. Unlike animal herds, which are generally the same species traveling together, most galaxies move through space in associations comprised of myriad types, shapes, and sizes. Exploring the nature of these extragalactic “herds” may help to unlock the secrets to the overall structure of the universe.