The Most Astounding Fact (Neil DeGrasse Tyson)

In a video interview with TIME Magazine, Astrophysicist Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson was asked "What is the most astounding fact you can share with us about the universe?" This is his answer. You can watch the full interview with the link provided. I implore you to check out all the links below.

Now with captions!

CREDITS
Music: "To Build a Home" by the Cinematic Orchestra featuring Patrick Watson http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjjc59FgUpg

Narration: "10 Questions for Neil Degrasse Tyson"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiOwqDmacJo

Edited by Max Schlickenmeyer
Video (in order of appearance):
IMAX: Hubble 3D (Orion)
http://www.imax.com/hubble/
Yellowstone: Battle for Life (Tree & Waterfall)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00jcdml
Supernova to Crab Nebula
http://www.spacetelescope.org/videos/heic0515a/
BBC: Wonders of the Solar System (formation of the solar system)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qyxfb
Accretion and First Eukaryotes from the 2011 film "Tree of Life" directed by Terrence Malick
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accretion_(astrophysics)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_life
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_evolutionary_history_of_life
http://www.twowaysthroughlife.com/
BBC: Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life
http://www.wellcometreeoflife.org/
"Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia" by Ayrton Orio (human eye)
http://vimeo.com/9505354
"mongolia!" by wiissa
http://vimeo.com/27876709

Saturn from Cassini Spacecraft
http://www.outsideinthemovie.com/
IMAX: Hubble 3D (Inside Orion Nebula)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_Nebula
Shuttle Launch from 1985 IMAX film "The Dream is Alive"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dream_Is_Alive
"Earth -- Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over -- NASA, ISS" by Michael Konig
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls9yJTphLxg
"The Island" by Christoph Malin
http://vimeo.com/27539860
"Mars sunset" captured by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_347.html

Neil DeGrasse Tyson goes on to say "For me, that is the most profound revelation of 20th century astrophysics and I look forward to what the 21st century will bring us, given the frontiers that are now unfolding."

Special thanks to Carl Sagan, Neil Degrasse Tyson, and NASA for their inspiration.

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What is the most astounding fact you can share with us about the Universe?

The most astounding fact

is the knowledge

that the atoms that comprise life on Earth

the atoms that make up the human body

are traceable to the crucibles that cooked light elements

into heavy elements in their core

under extreme temperatures and pressures

These stars, the high mass ones among them

went unstable in their later years

they collapsed and then exploded scattering their enriched guts across the galaxy

guts made of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen

and all the fundamental ingredients of life itself

These ingredients become part of gas cloud that

condense, collapse, form the next generation of solar systems

stars with orbiting planets, and those planets now have the ingredients for life itself

So that when I look up at the night sky

and I know that yes, we are part of this universe

we are in this universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts

is that the Universe is in us.

When I reflect on that fact, I look up-

many people feel small because they're small and the Universe is big-

but I feel big, because my atoms came from those stars.

There's a level of connectivity.

That's really what you want in life, you want to feel connected, you want to feel relevant

you want to feel like a participant in the goings on

of activities and events around you

That's precisely what we are, just by being alive...