The Most Astounding Fact

Astrophysicist Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson was asked in an interview with TIME magazine,

What is the most astounding fact you can share with us about the Universe?

This is his answer:

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.

― Neil deGrasse Tyson

Watch this quote illustrated in the following video:

The Most Astounding Fact from Max Schlickenmeyer on Vimeo.

And in cartoon format here.

This quote reminds me of the following:

We are the children of stars. In the heart of a dying star new elements were being made. Every single atom from your body has come from these dead stars. This is the journey of the atoms that compose us starting today and ending at the beginning of time. They have traveled for billions of years through stars, space, Earth, and time until they joined together to create each one of us. Soon they will leave us.

Or perhaps that IS us. Perhaps we are all bits of all the stars that will ever exist. We, a collection of atoms, will live on to form new stars, and give new life to the universe as it did to us.

Again, illustrated in this video: