"Cosmic Radiation" (original song) - Stephanie Strand

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

Category:

Music

Tags:

• cosmic
• radiation
• stephanie
• strand
• song
• astronomy
• planetary
• nebula
• supernova
• sun
• death
• coronal
• mass
• ejection

[Maysey1]

Very nice Stephanie, I really enjoyed reading your "other info" to the right. I think space is a very intriguing thing as well. If more folks would just look at earth for what it and we really are, I think we would better understand things and probably be a little more content and happier with one another. But, so it goes....  Peace, Mark

[stephstrand]

Agreed. If even a slightly stronger attempt were made on the part of us all to correctly understand the things around us, we would at least be able to better reason with one another. To what extent, who knows. But it would be nice to get some obvious nonsense out of the way.

[krishields]

God I love that voice :) - sends shivers down my spine every time. Love this song.

[stephstrand]

What a compliment! Thanks very much!

[worldismarble]

steph! I was just reading about NASA's Ibex and how the heliosphere protects up from cosmic radiation and your voice popped into my head!

[stephstrand]

Haha! Wonderful, I'm so glad to have been there! :D

[PecheaToday]

I love this :)

[AlasdairFinnigan11]

Hi, Steph. Would you mind putting up the chords for this song?

[changetheoscar]

yeah

[VoltageGlitzJoseph]

truly epic song. this is my favorite. :)

[avedic]

i love everything about you and your music. the world needs more of this

[thetubemeister]

can I call you profound again? :) Favd with a hearty thumbs up ;-)

[xdaniel77]

Dang girl, have you gotten recorded yet? :)

[MrAlbellis]

I just recently came across your amazing unique music. I love your voice. Cosmic Radiation is my new favorite song. Please keep singing, I look forward to hearing more music from you soon.

[Shadowhid]

Love it

Love It

Love it

Love it