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The Science Side Of Outer Space

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My parents tell a lot of funny stories about me growing up. Most of them end with either food all over my face or me falling on my face. Sometimes both. They also talk about what would happen when they showed me the stars. My head would flop backward like the Raggedy Ann doll I always dragged around, my eyes and mouth so wide that I looked like a bowling ball, and I’d stare up to the heavens totally mesmerized. I loved to point out what I called the ‘crescent roll’ moon and count all the little dots until I lost track and started over. Maybe it’s because I grew up with Jiminy Cricket singing to wish upon a star, or maybe it’s just because there’s something serene and beautiful about the night sky, but I’ve always thought of outer space as a special place where discoveries can be made and exploration can happen. Now that I’m older and more interested in the science side to the sky, outer space seems even more amazing It’s baffling that I can lay on my back, look up, and each tiny glowing dot I see is several million times larger than my own planet. It’s even crazier that the human race has ways to explore it. We’re tiny. The universe is older and bigger than we will ever be able to fully comprehend, and yet, we literally launch ourselves into that great expanse to see what we can find. Sometimes, however, it’s not quite so easy to look up. Constant political debate and economic strain here on earth demand plenty of attention of their own, and put into question why we bother

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