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Should one get too full of oneself, take a gander at this Hubble Telescope shot of a starburst galaxy. Each spot of light is a solar system with the same proximity to the next star as us! God tends an awesome garden.
On the other hand, (nearly) every one of us is a worthy creature, as precious and beautiful as the next... Except for jerks. I make an exception for jerks.
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Fact: Most galaxies form new stars at a fairly slow rate, but members of a rare class known as "starburst" (as image above) galaxies blaze with extremely active star formation. The galaxy NGC 3310 is one such starburst galaxy that is forming clusters of new stars at a prodigious rate. Scientists using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope are perfecting a technique to determine the history of starburst activity in NGC 3310 by studying the colors of its star clusters.
At one point we believed we were the center of everything.
Then we discovered we are part of a planetary system that revolves around a sun.
Later we realized that this solar system is but one of many solar systems in a huge, spiraling galaxy! Billions of stars.
Eventually we could see out there well enough to understand that past our galaxy, in every direction, are whole galaxies full of star systems. Incomprehensibly there seem to be billions of them.
That awes and empowers me. I hope it does you.
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Mark Scott, All Rights Reserved.