What is the most astounding fact that you can share about the Universe as described by Neil deGrasse Tyson: The most astounding fact is the knowledge that the atoms that comprise life on Earth, the atoms that make up the human body are traceable to the crucibles that cooked light elements into heavy elements in their core under extreme temperatures and pressures. These stars, the high mass ones among them, went unstable in their early years, they collapsed and then exploded, scattering their enriched guts across the galaxy, guts made of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and all the fundamental ingredients of life itself. These ingredients become part of gas clouds that condense, collapse, form the next generation of solar systems, stars with orbiting planets, and these planets now have the ingredients for life itself. So when I look up at the night sky and I know that yes we are part of this Universe, we are in this Universe, but more important than both of these facts is that the Universe is in us. When I reflect on that fact I look up, many people feel small because the Universe is big, but I feel big, because my atoms came from those stars. There is a level of connectivity. That is what you want in life you want to feel connected, want to feel relevant, feel like you are a participant in the goings on of activities and events around you, that is precisely what you are just by being alive.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 06:48:36 +0000