tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than
people." Carl Sagan
Today I watched a National Geographic documentary about space, specifically the boundaries of the universe.
Yesterday, as most of the world knows, America's Mars Rover Curiosity landed on Mars. It wasn't the first time we've been to Mars, robotically speaking; NASA has sent 3 previous Rovers to the planet. But it's still a big deal.
So in honor of the space success, I watched this doc. about the limits of space. Space has been on my mind lately anyway. A few weeks ago I visited a Star Wars museum in Kansas- it was exactly what it sounds like. Costumes, lightsaber replicas, a build-your-own-droid station. While most of it was completely cheesetastic, there was a short documentary about the limits of space (narrated by Anthony Daniels AKA 3-CP0) that really kinda got to me. It talked about how much space there is that we've never even seen or observed, let alone visited. Like 99% of it. I was overwhelmed with feelings of insignificance in a way I have never experienced. I mean, I knew we were tiny specks of dust, but when you actually see the vastness of space, the amount of light years it would take to get out of our own solar system, then double that and triple that and so on and so on, you realize it.
So I watched this hoping to get the same effect. And for the most part I did. We are ferried off of Earth by our narrator Alec Baldwin to the furthest edges of space and time. We pass the knowns (our moon, the planets, our Sun) and the unkowns (dark matter, black holes, quasars).
The visuals are absolutely astounding. I've never been one to really notice special effects, but they are seriously stunning. The only setback is that my computer is crappy and can't handle watching it on HD. It was just too much for it to handle. It'd be fun to watch it on a big plasma screen tv.
It didn't hit as hard as the Star Wars one I watched. This one was brimming with human-centric optimism; "What will it be like when we finally master interstellar travel? What wonders await us?" It makes me want to see a space documentary that's more realistic, maybe even to the point of nihilism- "Here is somewhere humans will never see or visit. We would never get here, and we never will. Out here, no one has ever heard of humans, or Earth, or any of the things we think are so important. This is space." Bummer? Sure. But pretty true.
How I feel
So if you're a space nerd, I recommend this one. It doesn't get bogged down in slow overly technical details, it's full of stunning visuals, and you get Alec Baldwin's smooth voice to carry you through it.
And if you wanna check out what's going on over on Mars, check this out- Mars Panorama
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