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as the national day approaches, the beijing planetarium is particularly lively, with children everywhere and their curious eyes. there are many exhibitions that attract children, such as comparing the gravity of the planets in the solar system by lifting basketballs, distinguishing which one is a real meteorite in a pile of stones, etc., and dome special effects movies such as "wonderful starry sky" and "the big bang" are also the most popular among children.

in the more than 20 years i have been doing science popularization work in the planetarium, i am often asked: "how many stars are there in the sky?" "how big is the universe?" "are there life forms like humans on the stars?"... in fact, many of these questions were raised thousands of years ago, and generations of wise people have been struggling to explore them, but there are still no answers to this day.

i have found a pattern in my work: those who ask these questions are often teenagers. children seem to be naturally curious about such questions. on the other hand, many adults think that these are questions that have no practical use and are "neither edible nor drinkable." however, are these questions really useless?

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i remember learning an idiom when i was a child: "the people of qi worry about the sky". this idiom is about a small country called qi about 3,000 years ago. in qi, there was a man who was always worried about whether the sky would fall down, which made him worried day and night and unable to sleep or eat. the qi state mentioned in the idiom is actually a descendant of the xia dynasty. the people of qi continued to worship the monarchs of the xia dynasty and presided over important national ceremonial activities of the zhou dynasty. it was not until the warring states period that the qi state was destroyed by the chu state, which lasted for about 1,500 years.

confucius lived a little earlier than lie zi. according to records, confucius was worried about the collapse of rituals and music in society at that time. in order to restore the ritual and music system, he went to qi state to explore and study the rituals of the xia dynasty. it is not difficult to see that qi state was a country with a profound historical and cultural tradition, and there were many knowledgeable people there.

after understanding the background knowledge, let's look at the idiom "qi ren you tian". the people of qi were thinking about why the sky was always up and whether it would collapse. the most famous universe models in ancient my country are the gai tian theory and the hun tian theory, which have appeared since the pre-qin period. at that time, the people of qi might have been thinking about these profound questions about the universe model. in the warring states period when many heroes emerged and the world was in turmoil, if there were still some people interested in the sky and the universe above their heads, it might not be surprising that they came from qi.

throughout history, for thousands of years, when has the chinese nation ever lacked people who were devoted to the starry sky? from a global perspective, at the time when the qi people were worried about the sky, the ancient greek sages were also thinking about similar issues. from eudoxus, aristotle to ptolemy, they finally perfected the "geocentric theory". as a description of the cosmic model, this theory dominated the western intellectual world for a thousand years until copernicus published the "heliocentric theory" in 1543.

the heliocentric theory moved the center of the universe away from the earth where humans live. this was not only an advancement in astronomy and even science, but also a great revolution in the entire human worldview. as one of the landmark events of the western renaissance, it led to the complete liberation of human thought.

from then on, the true appearance of the universe gradually became clear: in the 18th century, herschel, the "father of stellar astronomy", revealed that the sun is just an ordinary member of the huge milky way; in the 20th century, hubble, the "father of galactic astronomy", discovered that there are other galaxies outside the milky way. it turns out that the milky way is just a small island in the vast universe.

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in 1977, the unmanned probe "voyager 1" was launched. it was tasked with helping humans understand the universe. its goal was the deep space, but the journey was extremely long - it would take 40,000 years for it to leave the solar system and approach another star. it carried a metal record as a gift from humans to extraterrestrial civilizations. it recorded hundreds of audio and images, including greetings from people of various countries, music, and sounds of nature. it flew over saturn in 1981, uranus in 1986, and neptune in 1989, and its scientific exploration mission was basically completed.

in 1990, voyager 1 flew to a distance of 6.4 billion kilometers from earth. scientists on the project instructed it to do something that was not originally in the work plan: turn the camera 180 degrees to take a family photo of the solar system, including earth. you know, its energy was exhausted at this time, and wasting the precious power left on the spacecraft to take photos of the solar system that were destined to have unclear details was actually of no scientific significance.

however, when the photos it took were transmitted back to earth, they caused a huge sensation. in this photo, which was stitched together from more than 60 images, the sun was just a bright spot in the center of the picture, while the earth was an extremely dim blue spot on the dark background of the universe, less than a pixel in size.

astronomer carl sagan described the faint blue dot in the photograph that represents earth: look at that point of light again. there it is. it is our home. it is our everything. everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, all kings and peasants, all hunters and robbers, all heroes and cowards, lived out their lives on it.

in the vast theatre of the universe, earth is only a tiny stage. our planet is a lonely speck in the vast and all-embracing universe. our egos, our illusions of some privileged place in the universe, are challenged by this pale point of light. it reminds us of our responsibility to treat each other more kindly and to protect and cherish this tiny speck of light, earth, the only home we have ever known.

since then, this photo has become one of the most shocking photos in history and one of the best portrayals of the "community with a shared future for mankind" to date.

carl sagan once said that the process of human exploration of the universe is actually the process of human continuous self-understanding. whenever standing under the starry sky and looking up at the stars in the milky way, many people feel small and powerless. however, i want to sing the praises of the greatness of life. a look back from outside the earth gives us a new perspective and also prompts us to rethink the meaning of life.

3

in the vast universe, the earth is just a tiny speck, a drop in the ocean. however, it is in this insignificant corner of the universe that life was born.

seemingly ordinary life is the greatest miracle in the universe. you see, every particle of matter that makes up our body originally came from the stars in the universe. an atom on our left hand and an atom on our right hand may have been part of two stars tens of millions of light years apart in the universe billions of years ago. driven by the stellar wind of the supernova explosion, they drifted together across time and space, forming our bodies together and giving life vitality. the probability of this happening was originally so small, but it is precisely because the universe is so big that it can make this miracle come true.

in the vast universe, all kinds of harsh environmental conditions restrict the survival of life. however, on this ordinary pale blue planet, life was born. in the universe governed by the second law of thermodynamics, everything is heading towards chaos and destruction, but life goes against entropy, reproduces tenaciously, evolves persistently, creates brilliant culture, and develops into advanced civilization.

"my thoughts are so vast that they connect to the universe." the universe is so big that it gave birth to life, and life is used to think about the meaning of the universe. and science is what these curious intelligent lives have gained through thinking and discovery. where does our universe come from? how big is the universe? what will the future of the universe be like? these seemingly useless questions carry the most essential mission given to life by the universe.

the father of space exploration, tsiolkovsky, once said that the earth is the cradle of mankind, but mankind cannot live in the cradle forever. the sea of ​​stars is the source of our life and will surely become the destination of mankind in the future.

hegel said: "a nation has hope only when it has a group of people who look up at the stars." although most of our lives have to be confined to the present, who says there is no way to reach poetry and the distance in spirit? whenever i look up at the stars, i can not only feel an indescribable sublimity, but also deal with all kinds of troubles in life with a more peaceful mind, keep my feet on the ground, and live better in the present.

recalling the words of these ancient philosophers, we may better understand why more and more people are yearning for planetariums today. it is in the continuous exploration of the universe that we feel more and more the loneliness and beauty of the earth, and how precious and fragile life is.

when we cast our eyes toward the boundless and vast universe, the trivial matters that usually bother us become insignificant, as if our souls are also connected with the universe and become vast and open. when we receive the "blessing" of the universe, at least for a moment, the joys, sorrows, anger and happiness of the world will no longer disturb our souls. we have a kind of "compassionate" love for the earth and all living beings on the earth. letting the soul wander in the magnificent and wonderful universe is one of the best ways to revive yourself.