Journey of the Universe Page #2

in the entire universe.

That was the main focus of

tension among scientists.

Now were know there are 100 billion,

maybe even a trillion galaxies.

What is the creativity that brought forth

a trillion galaxies?

Let's consider our own Milky Way galaxy.

It's a galaxy with huge spiral arms.

When we first began to discover galaxies,

we thought maybe these spiral arms

were composed of physical matter.

But actually, it's much more interesting.

The arms are actually waves that are

passing through the galaxy.

They're called density waves.

And as they pass through

clouds of hydrogen and helium,

they ignite star birth.

That's the way to picture

the Milky Way galaxy.

Not so much as a thing,

but rather as an activity.

It's an ongoing activity

of bringing forth stars.

We live in the midst of

this intense creativity.

Come into this little church.

I want to show you something.

The ceiling, as you can see,

is filled with stars.

The same is true of most of the churches

on the island of Samos.

The ancient Greeks, like Pythagoras,

thought the stars were alive, even divine.

Throughout history every

culture has been stunned

by the presence of stars in the

vastness of the night sky.

Hallelujah

Hallelujah

So deeply moved by the majesty emanating

from the brilliance of the stars,

we have built our lives around them.

We've even organized entire civilizations

upon their beauty and order.

Hallelujah

Here's the essence of the universe story.

The stars are our ancestors.

Out of them everything comes forth.

Stars are dynamic entities.

They're born.

They develop.

They even die.

Star birth occurs when gravity squeezes

together a cloud of atoms so tight

that nuclear fusion ignites in the center.

In the process, hydrogen

fuses in the helium.

This nuclear energy expands outwards

and opposes gravity.

So stars represent an

amazingly creative balance

between the powers of

gravitational collapse

and nuclear explosion.

And once a star's nuclear fuel is spent,

there's nothing left to prevent gravity

from collapsing inwards, causing

the death spiral to begin.

This super-concentrated dot of matter,

which we call a supernova, explodes outward

with the power of 100 billion stars.

And as it expands, it creates

all of the elements,

phosphorous, oxygen, carbon, gold.

These are spewed out into

the Milky Way galaxy,

and then the whole process starts again.

They drift as a cloud

and then they collapse,

give birth to a star, the Earth.

It's by stupendous process that we can say

the stars are our ancestors.

It's just such an amazing discovery.

The carbon atoms of this

beet, and of the lettuce

Rate this script:2.5 / 4 votes