It's fascinating to think of our ultimate fate within the universe. One widely accepted possibility for the planet is this. Approximately 4 billion years from now, when the sun's life finally comes to and end, every bit of the earth -- every atom which has been continuously recycled between land sea life and atmosphere for billions of years -- will be vaporized, and will then become part of something equally as majestic: a planetary nebula. The fate of the elements that once made up all living bodies and the whole of the earth may ultimately end in a new beginning. The glow of the planetary nebula will eventually fade and die out, but everything that it consisted of will be recycled back into the cosmos, possibly destined to form new stars, new planets, new solar systems. I find this very real possibility to be ... utterly amazing(!), humbling and uplifting. It's even grander when realizing that we are the result of the same processes. Our (anomalously(?)) conscious lives are finite, blips in time; our physical cosmic presence will be unfathomably long-lasting.
One thing I've realized in the short time I've been alive is that studying space can knock your socks off. It can easily propel you into a permanent state of awe once you begin.
Thanks for listening.
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Credits:
Most of the images and video clips used here are of public domain; most photos are from the NASA website. All of the video clips were found through the Internet Archive. The clip at the end (a simulation of the universe as it began to form itself) is an excerpt from "Runaway Universe" on PBS, also found through the Internet Archive.
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"Cosmic Radiation" (December 2007)
Every night, I know, I say I want to catch the stars in my hand
It's a wonder, I know, all this time and still I haven't yet
But when I'm gone, you know, and turn to dust I'll glow
Turn to dust and glow
As the sun dies
Cosmic radiation
Every day you say that death is not the end, that spirit transcends
How ideal, I say. What a dream, oh what an unlikely thing
As for me, I say, I think I'll blow away
I'll just blow away
As the sun dies
Cosmic radiation
Where we'll be in time may not be up to one particular thing
It's a wonder that time will go on longer than we can ever know
But it seems, in time, we'll all be stars again
We'll be stars again
We'll be stars again
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!['For the Minstrel (After the Burial)' [original instr.] with Bees and Spiders (1927)](http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/0TbPOkcuXS0/default.jpg "'For the Minstrel (After the Burial)' [original instr.] with Bees and Spiders (1927)")
It's good to see some activity on your channel. Since I like your songs - "Weighing my heavy
heart" has really touched my heart - I was frightend, that you had fallen into a Sleeping-Beauty-long-sleep, but that's not the case, I see, and, that's good...
All the best wishes from Denmark :-)
Have a great weekend.
:o)
Gary
:o)