The International Year of Astronomy.

"We are stardust. We are nuclear waste."

Apprently, we're all made of stardust from when stars blew up. Which can be viewed as nuclear waste? It's pretty awesome. I went to a lecture by Dr. William E. Harris today, he talked about "Galileo, Shakespear, and van Gogh: Creative Reactions to the End of The World".  The End of The World being when our sun dies, in a few billion years.

Some other interesting things I jogged down during the talk:

"White flakes of air will be the dust: which no wind will stir" - Robinson Jeffers 1977

Apprently, Astronomy is a depressing subject:

"If you are cheerful, leave the study of astronomy alone. Of all sciences, it alone deserves the character of the terrible." - Thomas Hardy

I particularly liked this one:

"Why shouldn't the shining dots of the sky be as accessible as the black dots on the map of France?" - van Gogh

Did you know that you can see the Big Dipper in "Starry Night Over the Rhone" by van Gogh (shown above)? I thought it was cool. 

I wish the moon is still the "poor man's lantern".  Seeing everything in the moonlight would be pretty awesome, maybe during Earth Hour tomorrow! [today]. Don't forget to do something that doesn't require electricity for an hour from 8.30 pm till 9.30 pm !