Search Astronomers Without Borders

From Stardust to Stardust (and the journey in-between)

Visual artist working in the field of space exploration and the cosmos. This article was written for an artist’s book ‘Oltramarino’ (a collection of thoughts on what it is to be human), by Louise Mackenzie. Much thanks to all the scientists whose research I have gathered up to write this and it is primarily used to introduce space exploration to varied groups of people, who have yet to understand that they are part of a dynamic new space-age. Introduction Atoms exist for a billion trillion years – we are made from stardust. Carbon is the beginning of life and is created inside aging stars. The atoms that make up our bodies are a temporary arrangement, and through the years they will become many different states, maybe a plant, maybe an insect or another human being, and then back to the stars. We are made from the ingredients of a Cosmic Recipe. There are 92 naturally occurring elements in the universe. Hydrogen was the first to be created and is the most prevalent. Life in the Universe The development of life on Earth was an inevitable consequence of the physical laws that govern the universe….we are all made of one thing, the same energy process, which simply changes from one form to another in a continuous cycle. Therefore, there has to be other life throughout the universe. There was only energy to start with and this transformed to create matter as well. The energy in the universe is changing from high quality ordered energy to low... Read More..