Ever since man became aware of itself, we have looked up to the heavens with great wonder. As we try to understand the physical world around us, we also have learned more and more about the universe. No matter how much we learn though, there is always so much more lurking around the corner, so many more mysteries that have yet to be solved. We marvel at the sheer size of the universe, and the many different objects that inhabit it.
We have always been fascinated with what exactly makes the heavens go. Before we knew about things such as gravity, we imagined that the planets were just pushed by angels, or some other mystery force of the gods. Before we knew what a comet really was, it caused much panic among peoples who thought that they were a symbol of impending doom. As science teaches us what the things in the sky really are, it doesn’t take away from the wonder we share as we gaze skyward.
When the first extrasolar planet was found, it opened up a whole new can of worms. How many more planets would be out there? Do any of them have life? Regardless of the fact that we have yet to find an earth sized world in a good orbit to sustain life as we know it, we still look out there in hopes that we will find a planet like ours. The odds are pretty good that we will find life someday, and that quest keeps us going, and wondering what we will find later.
The universe has created life for us, yet has ended it as well. When scientists discovered that periodic asteroid events were the likely cause of mass extinctions on Earth, it sent a shock wave through humanity. Would another one hit the Earth? Would we be doomed just like the dinosaurs? Could we stop an asteroid if we spotted one soon enough? These questions have intensified our search for killer asteroids, and also has furthered our knowledge of our surroundings in the sky.
Humanity has never ventured past the Moon. As a species that is used to controlling its environment, and exploring the unexplored, it serves as rude reminder of how far we have left to go as a species. Have we reached our evolutionary limits as a species? Can we go to space, or are we just doomed to dwell on this one planet for the rest of time? The challenge of getting into space fuels our desire to learn more, and go farther than we have before.
The universe has a wide array of possibilities lurking inside of it. Are black holes a portal to another dimension? Is this the only universe that exists, or are there more out there? Will it die? How did it form? How old is it? So many questions, so much to answer, and only time will tell if we discover the answers.
Man has only scratched the surface when it comes to probing the universe. The more we discover, the more we wonder, and the more we want to know. Will we get to travel through it someday? Or are we going to have to be content to send probes, and other machines to do our traveling for us, while we sit and observe on Earth.
