Stars as Ancestors

After all this searching for my human ancestors (although, now that some of them have been deceased for hundreds of years, they are on their way to becoming stardust once again), I have become curious about the idea that Thylias presented to us on the first day of class: we all come from stardust - the stars are our ancestors.

My roommate, who is an astronomy major, agreed with this idea, and during a conversation about astronomy and the universe, she explained why she too believes that we are all "made of stardust." She said that scientists do not yet know what caused the universe to be created. Of course, the Big Bang theory is very convincing to most astronomers; however, no one knows what caused that. Where did the matter come from that caused the Big Bang? How could there have been matter before there was a universe - before there was anything? These are questions that science has not yet been able to answer.

Furthermore, scientists are aware that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate. But how can the universe expand? Isn't the universe everything? My roommate said these questions have also not been answered yet, but some scientists speculate that there are multiple universes, and "our" universe is expanding into others ("our" because we clearly do not own the universe; we are merely one tiny speck in the universe). Or, she explained, our universe could function like a balloon being blown up. Our universe sits on the surface of this expanding balloon, and so it is able to expand, too.

If this all seems pretty confusing, it is. I certainly don't understand half the information my roommate tells me about astronomy. But it's still really interesting.

My roommate also explained to me that someday, the Sun, along with the Earth, will someday explode or implode, and pieces of the planets in our solar system will be scattered out into space. It seems scary, but this is all slated to happen in a long time - long after we and many subsequent generations are gone.

One of the theories for how the Big Bang occurred is that fragments from other exploded universes or celestial bodies came together to form something new: our universe. This is the answer to our relation to stardust. When we die, our bodies will decompose and eventually become part of the Earth. Then, a long, long time from now, the Earth will explode and become part of space. When that happens, our own fragments will become part of the stars and space. Perhaps our fragments will even create something new, just as the Big Bang created our universe. Thus, we came from stardust and will one day return to stardust. So, my family and ancestors can not only be traced back to humans with names and physical bodies, but also to the stars and the heavens, which is really beautiful.

A beautiful view of the Milky Way. The mountains pictured beneath the stars are located in Arizona. This would be a gorgeous place to travel to and explore!