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View Earth in Real Time from the ISS via streaming video
Realize that if the Sun was as big as a pumpkin, Jupiter would be about the size of a grape and the Earth's size would be that of a very small grape seed. Beyond our solar system and Milky Way galaxy there is so much more. By using the Hubble telescope to look into a piece of dark space no larger than a grain of sand held at arms length away from your eyes the telescope captured 10,000 galaxies in its view! The James Webb telescope is giving us views and discoveries that are mind blowing in the 21st century.
On the top of this website's pages is the image taken from space of Sagan's pale blue dot, Earth, floating like a mote of dust in the Sun's light. A photo from 4 billion miles away shows us home. That's here, that's us.
We are the result of stellar evolution...We come from exploded stars and so does the Earth you're standing on right now. All of the atoms of your body (except hydrogen, the H built the stars) down to the calcium in your bones was brewed chemically inside a star for millions of years and then it was released into the Universe via stars exploding. A stellar pollination! Stars are the only thing "out there" that can make the material (atoms) that makes up planets, people and plants. Look up into the night sky - that is where the building blocks for the human species and all life was born. Matter comes together via gravity and life arises from biochemistry that flourishes from our Sun's energy. Life also is found to thrive from the Earth's energy, hydrothermal vents, deep within our oceans.
So amazing as Richard Dawkins put it: "Matter flows from place to place and momentarily comes together to be you." All of the atoms that you were composed of at birth are no longer in you...you have acquired new atoms for your body material as you've progressed through life. Some molecules such as DNA are not replaced over the life span. You see our bodies are kind of like molecular vessels for matter and our DNA is the architect of matter which contains nature's message, a blueprint for life, that transforms matter into life...to form animate beings such as us. We are the fruits that DNA bears and it is our seed.
Each one of us is connected to the entire thread of events of creation from the beginnings in space with exploding stars, to human evolution, to this moment right now. Imagine the beginnings of people 200,000 years ago that look just like us and what they went through to not die out and to raise the next generation...how much of a struggle it was to survive being born into a bare world with no cities, doctors, no language invented yet, and the courage it took to carry on and stay alive.
We are all children of the cosmos and we should celebrate all we've achieved and our existence. Let's meet here not as citizens of separate countries but as members of the human species, as citizens of the cosmos. We are the stewards of the planet Earth and it is our duty, as well as of personal interest for the human species to stay alive, to care and be aware of our Mother Earth. Global warming is a reality with the majority of scientists on Earth agreeing based on hard data collected. The Earth page has links and more information from credible sources on this matter. It is a very real danger to life on Earth, just look at Venus to see the runaway greenhouse effect in action.
A playlist that has thoughts on the Cosmos and our connection with it.
Earth and Sun from ISS - Source: NASA
The elements of the Cosmos, the Universe, can give us insight into nature. Plants and animals, humans, planets, moons, galaxies, nebula, comets and meteors are all part of the design of the Cosmos. Evolution, Ancient Civilizations, Astronomy, Mars, and Earth that is discussed throughout this website reflect our history, our biology, discoveries, and connection to the Universe.
I think it's natural to love space exploration. Historically we have been a people who searched out new lands having to cross oceans to find them. We have now discovered all the lands of Earth. The next challenge lies within the stars to explore and to make new discoveries. Voyager 1 may be on the edge of going Interstellar after traveling in space for over 34 years!! What was once only imagined in science fiction is now becoming science fact and history!