Poems

Nine students from Baltimore City College High School (BCCHS) partnered with the Maryland Science Center (MSC) and Hubble Heritage Team at Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) to work toward the goal of presenting a live planetarium program called “Hubble Heritage: Poetic Pictures.” The program included blending the latest astronomical research with creative writing. After becoming familiar with the Hubble Heritage collection of images, each student selected their favorite one to inspire an original poem. The one-time special presentation included the poems recited by each author while their words were accompanied by abstract treatments of their selected images on the dome of MSC’s Davis Planetarium.

Visit the student's poems through the links below:

Jonathan Brundage

Jayson Lartey

Jessica Sigai

Ebony Green

Jeannette Mason

Elan Sprouse

Shannon Jackson

Kellie Morris

Micah Thomas

Short Story

"Hoag's Objective"

Written by Von Kraemer

A unique combination of fact, fiction and fantasy, this short story was inspired by the Heritage image, Hoag's Object. The author, Von Kraemer, is a science fiction writer and cartoonist. Contact the author for more information about other works and for a full copy of this story.

Other short SCIFI stories by this author will be featured in the upcoming editions of "Planet Magazine"

Cover Art by Von Kraemer

A message from the author

As an artist and writer, I know that we are often inspired by the world around us. It was just such a picture

produced by the Hubble team, which inspired me to ponder the creation of galaxies around us. With their help, I

can look out into the great beyond, see the ineffable art that is the universe, and allow my mind to sculpt it into

words and pictures here on our little blue ball called Earth.

Excerpt from Hoag's Objectives by Von Kraemer

"The Hoag have the largest most powerful telescope in our known universe. They also made the decision to look

the other way, away from earth, out into the void. Beyond the Big Bang. That's what's new.""What did they find?"

The night was cooling off. Maybe it was her mind, but little goose pimples rose all about her body."Two things

actually. One. This is the mind blower. Some distant Quasars are not just super bright ancient Galaxies. They

are Galaxies in flight. They are artificial also. Their bright jets are accelerating the entire Quasar out beyond the

Void. Hoag long-term studies of distant objects in the early universe indicate that during the first generation of

galactic conglomerations, there were simultaneous births of many life forms. Most of those surviving races are

now fleeing this part of space and taking their Galaxies with them. Thousands of Quasi- stellar objects are

Galactic inter-medium transports blasting away from our Universal Center.""That's unbelievable. Why are they

leaving?""Part two. Turns out, we're stuck in a field of dead space destined to reabsorb itself. Rotten luck. The

Real Universe is much bigger than we think. The Hoag have identified what we believe are multiple Big Bangs, in

various states of expansion just beyond the great Void. Not only that, but The Hoag have captured images of

fixtures that have never been seen before by Humanity, and cannot be described using our conventional

knowledge. Not even the AIs will divulge the information." "That is the new mystery. The Universe is teaming with

life. Unfortunately not in this small insignificant portion of the Universe. You might say that we are the last fruit

hanging on this old tree, in an orchard that stretches to infinity. That's what the Hoag have shown us. We are not

alone. Everyone has already left, or are leaving the neighborhood. The Universe is infinite. It's up to us to

explore it. That's why I want to go off world."