Stars ... and Not The Celebrity Kind

There are an abundance of questions that we all have, and will forever at that. And despite our bold, and sometimes desperate attempts, we just cannot solve everything. However, this does not inhibit the possibilities of imagination or exploration. Whether outward or inward (both in broad of specific terms) there will always be curiosity about something. Personally, my curiosity and, more so than anything as well, fascination with astronomy has enlightened many thoughts within me.

Much like any other child in school, I learned about stars and the planets, looked at pictures, studied what they were, and it was an interesting and cool new thing. Over the years, that intrigue stayed with me and because of that, I wanted my understanding to broaden. Not just me knowing what things were, but how and why they were. Which as previously mentioned, brought on many questions. Learning and researching the things I did (especially within my senior year astronomy class), it was phenomenal just how much is overlooked. The amount of stars and planets in the visible universe, the speeds at which bodies travel, how vast space in fact is. All things that should come to mind first, but, never known by myself or others I'm sure.

I really cannot tell you why I'm so engrossed by astronomy. We all want to know what is out there, looking up at the sky, getting lost in the brilliant lights. I'm one of those people, that's for sure. I gaze up innocently with a slight fear of the unknown, and with hopeful eyes trying to comprehend what is beyond my sight. When you start to put in relation everything that is, us, our troubles, the world, space, we are all so insignificantly small. Not to darken the mood, but, it as well is a good thing. Why take things so seriously, complicate matters and struggle through so much when it is immensely rare we are here? There are problems we all over exaggerate, things taken for granted and schemes played regularly, all in resistance to clarity and simplicity. So if you ever want to feel humbled, just look at the sky, in the least the moon, and find a moment of retrospect.

Something that really got me was a series of photos that detailed known celestial bodies. For instance, it started with Mercury, then on to Venus, and so on and so forth. Getting to the gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn, then showing our Sun. From there, it showed other stars that have been identified, still putting into context how big we were, and the planets. These pictures got to a point where it showed the largest known star, VY Canis Majoris, in relation to our sun. It be only a pixel in the photo, I looked in awe. With this one picture, to imagine the rest of the universe, the possibilities of what is out there, the amount of space, the sizes of objects and their influences, it is more than terrifying and beyond captivating.