Pssst! You! Yeah, you... are a passenger on a planet... on a blue-green planet that's orbiting a golden star. And right now we are traveling through a part of our yearly orbit where you will find me belly-up under the stars. In mid-August the night sky seems to wake up, look around, notice that we're here, and bless us with showers of shooting stars. And I've been flat on my back under this Perseid meteor shower every year since I was a little kid. If I sit or stand, half of the sky is behind me. And I never, ever turn my back on the sky because I've learned that the more I open up to outer space, the more inner space there is for me to enjoy and explore.

Once upon a time there was a big bang - a very, very big bang. All of a sudden, without any warning, everything exploded from nothing. The young universe began hurling itself out into space in a tantrum of creativity that's been going on for 13.8 billion years and shows no sign of ending. The Earth beneath our feet accumulated from an enormous disk of debris that was spun off by a star called the sun about 5 billion years ago. This accumulation of space debris that is our home planet continues to this day. On average, every two hours a hunk of cosmic debris the size of a softball lands someplace on Earth. Every day several tons of fine, powdery material rain down upon us. Our planet continues to form.

How our Earth came to life, turned green, and gave rise to creatures like you and me is a mystery to our scientists. What we do know is that the iron in our blood, the calcium in our bones, the oxygen in our lungs and every other element in our bodies originated in outer space.

Each year in mid-August we have a ring-side seat on the tantrum of creativity that is the cosmos. The meteor shower that we enjoy now looks like falling stars but is actually bits of space debris that are burning up as they rub against the film of atmosphere surrounding our Earth. This space debris comes from a comet that litters the mid-August part of our orbit on its journey around the sun.

Even though I've seen more of these cosmic fireworks than I can count, and even though I understand the science behind them, I cannot help ooohhing and aaahhing. With each gasp of wonderment [sound of sucking in air], I suck oxygen into my lungs. Here the oxygen meets with my bloodstream and is transported to every cell in my body. As it burbles along from one cell to the next, it oxygenates them and renews them.

While my breath is visiting my cells, it hears their history: "I am made of materials that originated in outer space." This song of my cells - this story of our cosmic origins - is whispered along on my breath until my breath leaves me [sound of exhaling/sighing]. Yes, outer space and inner space are the same space. And with each Perseid meteor shower, I am flat on my back in awe of this.

This is Harriet Witt, your guide for this little ride on our passenger planet.


If you have any questions, drop Harriet an email: harriet@passengerplanet.com


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