Transit of Venus May Answer Age Old Question Where Did I Come From?

Tonight, a rare cosmic phenomenon will occur high up above our heads – Venus’ orbit brings it right in front of our Sun.

Depending on where on this planet you happen to be, you’ll most likely start to see Venus as it transits across Sun from 5:30pm EST. Astronomers call this the Transit of Venus, and it’s a very rare event – miss tonight’s event and you’ll have to wait about 105 years to see it happen again.

But for amateur astronomers like myself, it isn’t just the infrequency of these celestial events which makes them so enticing. Most think of us sky watchers as space geeks. Sci-fi fans that dress like their favorite Star Trek characters, still living at home in their parent’s basements. Awkward in social situations, unless we are talking about string theory, black holes, and Captain Kirk.

Not true.

Well, okay, I enjoy Star Trek, have discussed string theory, black holes and Captain Kirk . . . but the rest is just wrong!

Seriously – astronomy is more than just watching the stars.

Astronomy is all about unraveling the mysteries which human beings have been seeking since we could think. Is there life on other planets? Are there other worlds like our own? And the ultimate question – where did I come from?

Truth is, astronomers know where we all came from, and it doesn’t relate to the birds and the bees. 

We’re all aliens from another world – or more accurately – we’re all composed of the bits and pieces from other worlds, which compose our bodies, making us who and what we are.

A little before you were born – say about 14 billion years ago – there was this Big Bang, which exploded all the elements outwards, into the vacuum of space.

All the basic elements found on the periodic table -- oxygen, hydrogen, helium and the rest – were scattered throughout our universe from that original Big Bang.

As the basic elements collided with each other in clouds of dust and debris, over billions of years of swirling in space, they formed planets, stars, comets, asteroids, meteors, plants, trees, mountain tops and eventually you.

You are composed of the fabric of space – all the elements within your body originated in that cosmic explosion billions of years ago. Now don’t you feel old?

We human beings are composed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and a few other basic elements. And all of these elements – even the ones composing our bodies today – originated from that massive explosion billions of years ago.

So when astronomers salivate over rare cosmic events like tonight’s Transit of Venus, we’re not just watching something rare occur – we’re trying to learn more about ourselves, and where we all came from.

Because although we know all matter that exists everywhere anywhere in our universe came from the Big Bang, we still don’t really know where the Big Bang came from.

But by looking up, one day we may figure it all out, and finally answer those questions which we have been asking since we could think – where did I come from?