sunday school


did you know that stars are actually suns or that our sun is a star or however you want to look at it but basically stars aren't twinkling little things with people fishing off the side of them they are massive and so far away and could quite possibly have little earths and other planets revolving around them as we do our star/sun.

betelgeuse is one of the biggest stars we know of and if earth is a raisin and our sun is a grape than this thing is the giant apple tourist attraction at that pie place off the highway - it's MASSIVE.

it's actually shrunk in size 15% since the early nineties which is probably because it's millions of years old and didn't drink enough milk in its youth.

betelgeuse can be seen in the night sky on the right shoulder of the constellation orion, one of the most easily recognizable star systems from almost anywhere in the world. especially easy to recognize in the planetarium at the science centre when the guy uses his red laser pointer.

why is space so amazing? clearly i am someone who is awed by items big and small but space has always been the kicker for me. i love to think about the sheer size of it and my small size in comparison and how important i am despite my almost inconsequential measurements.

betelgeuse could die in our lifetime causing an explosion visible even in daylight. i hope i'm alerted in advance so there's time to throw a goodbye party.

shine on you crazy star! shine on until you explode and i can have people over to celebrate it.

x

2 comments:

steph said...

uh oh you just said bettlejuice three times you are so screwed.

Michelle said...

My thoughts exactly Steph... either a giant worm or an evil Michael Keaton will appear =