Invisible

When’s the last time you looked up at the stars?

Astronomer Kareem El-Badry created a new plot this week (February 22, 2021) of more than a million pairs of binary stars (double stars orbiting a common centre of gravity).  You can watch the 3D atlas here.

It’s astounding to think about how many stars there are in our sky – let alone our solar system, galaxy, and universe!

We don’t think about them much, because we cannot always see them.

And even when they’re visible, we aren’t always paying attention.  We’re too busy looking down at our phones.  Or driving our cars. Or turning on the lights.

When’s the last time you looked up at the stars?

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Closing the Divide

My favourite moment in the U.S. Presidential Inauguration was when Amanda Gorman, aged 22, recited a powerful poem about unity (full video here):

We close the divide, because we know to put our future first,

We must first put our differences aside.

We lay down our arms

So we can reach out our arms to one another…

Scripture tells us to envision

That everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree,

And no one shall make them afraid.

If we’re to live up to our own time,

then victory won’t lie in the blade but in all the bridges we’ve made.

What a courageous call to come together.

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