Stellar Evolution

Long ago, big stars in the sky exploded in a giant flash of light called a supernova. When those stars died, they threw out tiny bits of stardust into the universe. Those tiny bits eventually clumped together to make the Earth and even the cells inside your body! This means you are actually made of old stars that had to explode so you could be born. Every person you see is a little piece of the sky walking around. The death of a star was the birth of you.

Look at your hand. The atoms inside it once glowed in the center of a sun billions of miles away. The star had to die so your hand could exist. You are the afterlife of a star.

Nucleosynthesis within high-mass stars creates elements up to iron; heavier elements are forged during the explosive death of a supernova. We are stardust literally. The cessation of fusion is prerequisite for chemical complexity required for biological life. Cosmic-scale death directly links to the microscopic scale of our existence.

SOUND: The silent ringing you hear when everything is very quiet: the echo of creation.

SMELL: The metallic scent of a shiny new coin: star-forged iron.

TASTE: The saltiness of your own tears: stars made that salt.

TOUCH: Touching a rock and feeling how solid and old it is.

SIGHT: Tiny sparkles in a piece of granite: star fragments.

BODY: The weight of your body pulled down by Earth: gravity holding stardust together.

Music: Brand New Day by Sting

Music: They Don't Care About Us by Michael Jackson

Part of Death & Rebirth — MYTHOLOGY — Education Revelation