8: Stars, the Cosmic Perspective and Us
Stars, the Cosmic Perspective
and Us
As a child, I was often been
fascinated by the beautiful twinkles in the skies known as stars at nights. I
do not really remember when was the first time that I first notice the stars of
the night sky. They just twinkled and sparkled so beautifully and so out of
reach. My first encounter with the galaxy was when I won a prize from a corn
flakes box competition. They sent me a poster of the galaxy. I was then
intrigued and decided to learn more about it. Stars, what are they actually?
According to books and Wikipedia, a star is a cluster of gases that were held
together by its own gravity.
Why stars? Our galaxy is made
out of million of stars and during a cloudless and clear night, you can even
see part of the arm of the Milky Way. It is like a belt completely encircling
us, but the interesting part is that we are nowhere near the centre of the
Galaxy as Harlow Shapley realized in 1918. The true centre is about 27,000
light-years away, and the whole Galaxy rotates around this centre. A period
called the ‘cosmic year’ which involves the Sun to complete a whole circuit of
225 million years – that is to rotate around the centre of the Galaxy! Imagine
one cosmic year ago, the dinosaurs were just the beginning of our earth’s history.
There are still more to learn
about the Galaxy which is no doubt a magnificent sight. Yet, what we can see is
just only a tiny fraction of the whole. In July 2017, we have the famous
Astrophysicist, Dr Neil deGrasse Tyson who came all the way to New Zealand to present to and guide the New Zealand
But how did all these be
related? Let’s put it this way, there are very roughly 200 billion stars in the
Milky Way and stars like the Sun makes up roughly 10 percent of all stars. That
is roughly about 20 billion Sun-like stars in the Milky Way. Compared to these
stars, our planet is just a tiny speck.
As Dr Neil deGrasse Tyson
says, “sit back and bask in your
relevance to the cosmos.” This cosmic perspective is, after all, empowering. “When
I look up in the universe I know I’m small but I’m also big," he says.
"I’m big because I’m connected to the universe and the universe is
connected to me."
Dr Neil deGrassse Tyson is a
very interesting speaker who does not just speaks about stars, the cosmos,
science and technology but an avid speaker of applying astronomical theories to
human fundamental problems. And as a result, you will gain a deeper
understanding about how the universe work and how to interpret it into our
everyday lives situations.
If you are interested in
knowing more about his topics, you can always check out Star Talk, a talk show that he hosted which can be found on YouTube.
References:
Fowler, J. & Rodd, E.(2016). A Cosmic Perspective is Empowering, Not
Depressing. Retrieved from: http://bigthink.com/big-think-mentor/a-cosmic-perspective-is-empowering-not-depressing
May, B.; Moore, P. & Lintott, C. (2012). A City
of Stars Canopus ) & Hill, P.M. (Carlton London
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