Have you ever looked skyward at night and seen a glimpse of wonder in it? The depths of the relationship between our cosmos and ourselves are beyond our imagination, as science has taught us. Each atom in your body — carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, calcium, iron — was once a part of a star. In other words, we are really “star stuff,” as the great astronomer Carl Sagan put it.
The Birth of Elements
These crucial elements were produced internally by stars over billions of years in a process known as nuclear fusion. Lighter elements such as hydrogen and helium merge under extreme heat and pressure to form heavier elements, such as carbon, oxygen, and iron, during this process. When massive stars reach the end of their lives, they explode in spectacular supernovae, dispersing these elements throughout the cosmos. This cosmic dust gathers up and, over the course of time, contributes to new stars, planets, even life on Earth.
The Story Within Us
This means that all of the cells we carry in our bodies have billions of years of story in them. The iron in our blood that carries oxygen, the calcium in our bones that provides us with structure, the carbon in every molecule of life — all once came from ancient stars. You are not a thing apart from the universe; you are a creation of it.
Cosmic Connection
Realizing this gives us an exclusive insight on life. It reminds us that we are inextricably linked to the universe and to one another. Some of the same physical laws that dictate the movements of galaxies also influence the chemistry we observe at work within our cells. By peeping through the stars we peek through ourselves; by knowing ourselves we gain insight into the universe.
Star Stuff as Reality
Being “star stuff” is not a poetic idea — it is a scientific reality. It indicates that the story of the universe is continuing to move through us, through our thoughts, through our actions, through the very things that make us. Every heartbeat, every moment of consciousness, the very breath we take, is the next leg of a cosmic journey that started billions of years ago.
Humility and Inspiration
Being humble and inspired by knowing we are living and breathing pieces of the universe acknowledges our cosmic lineage.
“We are made of the same elements as stars—literally ‘star stuff.’ Every atom in our body carries the story of the universe.”
