Camila Arancibia Capstone

Based off of a childhood fascination with the wonders beyond our Earth, I chose to investigate the importance of astronomy, a subject vaguely loved and respected in a world where everyone is always looking down at their feet. In order to explore something so complex, I began at the beginning of cognitive human history, with research on ancient societies that spent their entire lives depending on the sky above them. Each society had a different story written in the stars, and each had their own unique perspectives of the sky based on their beliefs and needs. The time they tracked, the gods they worshipped, and the crops that fed them all were born from a constant reliance on the stars. The societies that thrive today can be traced to these ancient people, and essentially traced to the heavens that gave them the knowledge and passion to grow. I learned more of the atomic composition of humans, whose most basic elemental properties can be traced directly to the properties of objects in space. The phrase “You are star stuff” is often heard but not held dear, until you discover that the carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen in neutron stars also lies in your being. The elements that are tied to the very birth of the universe, are reflected in you. You are star stuff. Astronomy isn’t just the study of the stars and the planets, astronomy is undoubtedly the study of you.