Category: humanity
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“I don’t think the human race will survive the next thousand years unless we spread into space. There are too many accidents that can befall life on a single planet. But I’m an optimist. We will reach out to the stars.”

– Stephen Hawking (8 January 1942 – 14 March 2018) An extract from an interview by Roger Highfield in Daily Telegraph (16 October 2001) where Hawking says, “Colonies in space may be our only hope.” There are certainly a lot of accidents that could befall humanity – and not just the ones we think we…
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“When we look out into space, we are looking into our own origins, because we are truly children of the stars.”

– Professor Brian Cox, Wonders of the Universe, BBC Why are we here? Where do we come from? These are the most enduring of questions. And it’s an essential part of human nature to want to find the answers. We can trace our ancestry back hundreds of thousands of years to the dawn of humankind.…
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“Shoot for the stars but if you happen to miss, shoot for the moon instead.”

– Neil A Armstrong (5 August 1930 – 25 August 2012) The first human to stand on the Moon! What a guy! With Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins in lunar orbit, the first two human beings to stand somewhere that isn’t the Earth. Did he say the above quote? Whether he did or didn’t what does…
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“Vita ex pulvis. We are made from the dust of dead stars.”

— Christopher Paolini, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars Go to the bottom of this post to read about this incredible image of the Cone Nebula Credit The full quote is: “Have you ever considered the fact that everything we are originates from the remnants of stars that once exploded?” Jorrus said, “Vita ex…
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“Above me shone the stars, for the night was very clear.”

Wells, H.G.. The Time Machine: with Illustrations (Classic Collection Book 22) (p. 63). Kindle Edition. The great H.G. Wells, in The Time Machine, goes on to state: “I felt a certain sense of friendly comfort in their twinkling. All the old constellations had gone from the sky, however: that slow movement which is imperceptible in…
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“It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience.”

The full quote goes: “It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another and to preserve and cherish the…
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“The church says the earth is flat; but I have seen its shadow on the moon, and I have more confidence even in a shadow than in the church.”

– Misattributed to Ferdinand Magellan (4 February 1480 – 27 April 1521) Yes, another misattribution! Surely a misattribution of the moment: Magellan didn’t say it, but it’s still brilliant, “shadow on the Moon”. Credit: https://depositphotos.com/64932777/stock-photo-moon-phases-from-crescent-to.html So, who did say it? Also, is it true, what can the earth’s shadow on the moon tell you about…
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“If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore …”

― Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), Nature and Selected Essays In his poem, Emerson puts forth the view that they would be regarded with great wonder and remembered and discussed for years to come. They would be recognized as a sign of God. Not every one agrees with this view, some think the human response would…
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“There is no easy way from the earth to the stars”

― Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC – 65 AD) usually known as Seneca, was a Stoic philosopher of Ancient Rome, a statesman, dramatist, and, in one work, satirist, from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature. The quote is translated from Seneca’s tragedy Hercules furens (The Mad Hercules): “non est ad astra mollis e terris…
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How many star signs are there?

We all know there are 12 star signs or signs of the zodiac. The 12 astrological star signs are evenly spread across the calendar: The date of your birth is meant to have an impact on your personality, behaviours, love life, career, etc. – every newspaper carries a horoscope trying to predict your destiny! But…