A Scattering of Stardust

 I've finished my second book and the outcome for the series is now out of my hands. Time for a much needed vacation and a chance to regain some perspective on what matters and more importantly, what doesn't.

Don't get me wrong. I don't presume to have any special insight into this curious thing we call life. I write black and white thrillers for a reason. 

Nevertheless, on our way down to Boca Del Vista we spent an amazing day at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida...and it caused me to take a step back and take a broader view.

We live on a tiny blue planet tucked on one arm of a spiral galaxy known as the Milky Way. At its centre a super massive black hole known as Sagittarius A. Our sun is only one star among as many as 400 billion others that are rotating around the galactic center at around 220 km/second.

And our galaxy is a very active place.

In the almost 14 billion years since the Big Bang, stars are still being born in magnificent stellar nurseries such as the Eagle Nebula - also known as the Pillars of Creation in the gorgeous picture taken by the Hubble Telescope.

Peer in closer into one of the stellar nurseries and you might see a cloud of black dust circling an infant star. Wait a few billion years and that dust will coalesce, and planets will form. There may be up to 100 million planets or more, and of those, as many as 8 billion might exist in the 'Goldilocks zone' where the conditions are just right for the formation of life as we know it.

In the midst of all this life, older stars are dying. Depending on their size, they may slowly contract into a super dense white dwarf or explode in a massive supernova.

But  our busy galaxy is not alone in the universe. The Milky Way is surrounded by several smaller galaxies and is part of a larger group of galaxies known as the Virgo Supercluster.

Recent estimates put the total number of galaxies in the known universe at around 500 billion, each containing hundreds of billions of stars.

Even more astounding, every atom in your body was at one time swirling about the galaxy, roaming free on interstellar winds. (And just to really blow your mind...there are more atoms in your body than there are stars in the known universe)

So, next time you're feeling overwhelmed by the trials and tribulations of everyday life go outside and look into the night sky.

You are made up of a scattering of stardust.

You are almost 14 billion years old.

At the same time you are as ephemeral as a flash of moonlight reflecting off a solitary wave on a vast ocean.

Kinda puts things into perspective, doesn't it?