Helm's Deep

baffledinbrooklyn asked:

Define the universe. Give 3 examples.

Well, if you go to Wikipedia, it says that the universe is “commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, matter, energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space.” Meh. Not very poetic.

Poetically (and even scientifically) speaking, everything is connected. We are the universe. I think I like what Carl Sagan said best:

The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of star stuff.

I also love his quote:

The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent.

He obviously didn’t believe in the Borg or the Sith. Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson said:

Recognize that the very molecules that make up your body, the atoms that construct the molecules, are traceable to the crucibles that were once the centers of high mass stars that exploded their chemically rich guts into the galaxy, enriching pristine gas clouds with the chemistry of life. So that we are all connected to each other biologically, to the earth chemically and to the rest of the universe atomically. That’s kinda cool! That makes me smile and I actually feel quite large at the end of that. It’s not that we are better than the universe, we are part of the universe. We are in the universe and the universe is in us.

I also really enjoy the word “unfathomable.” The sheer size and scope of it are beyond anything I can wrap my head around. When we look up in the sky, and we’re seeing stars, some of which burned out millions of years ago, yet are so far away, the light from them are just now reaching us…that blows my mind.

Side note: If space travel ever becomes readily available and affordable before I leave this universe for good, sign me up. I’d go into space and explore the very reaches of the universe in a heartbeat.