by J.R. Carpenter
after Caroline Herschel
2 August 1786
I venture to trouble you
in absence
with the following
imperfect account
*
sweeping
in the neighbourhood
of the sun
last night
I found an object
very much resembling
in colour and brightness
the twenty-seventh nebula
with the difference
of being round
a haziness coming on
it was not possible
to satisfy
myself
as to its motion
until this evening
*
I made several drawings
I have enclosed copies
with my observations annexed
that you may compare them
the star-like
object in the centre
out of focus
while the rest are distinct
makes an isosceles triangle
with the two stars
a and b
but so hazy
I cannot sufficiently see
the small star b
*
evident motion
since last night
another
considerable star
c
may be taken
into the field
of view
*
I cannot find the stars
a and c
in any catalogue
but suppose they may be
easily traced
in the heavens
J. R. Carpenter is an artist, writer, and researcher working across performance, print, and digital media. Her web-based work The Gathering Cloud won the New Media Writing Prize 2016. Her collection An Ocean of Static was highly commended by the Forward Prizes 2018. Her collection This is a Picture of Wind was named one of The Guardian’s best poetry books of 2020. http://luckysoap.com
Something Other 