Science is Awesome!

Sometimes a news item catches your eye that is so thoroughly science fictional that you have to just stop and admire the awesomeness of the universe and the tool with which we seek to understand it: science.

Take this news, for instance, of the discovery of a rogue planet, wandering (appropriately enough) some hundred light years away, and given the catchy name CFBDSIR2149-0403.  Rogue planets have been a recurring trope in SF for the better part of a century, first appearing (to the best of our knowledge) in Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer’s 1933 novel When Worlds Collide, filmed in 1951 by legendary producer George Pal (and, yes, since you ask, it will be available as an SF Gateway eBook; it’s in proofing at the moment and we hope to be publishing before Christmas).

And as if that wasn’t enough awesome for one day, take a look at this extraordinary film that compresses the entire story of the creation of the universe from the Big Bang through to the development of life on Earth into a minute and a half:

Say it with me, now: Science. Is. Awesome.

This film comes courtesy of the excellent Astronomy Picture of the Day site, and is copyright MelodySheep, Symphony of Science, John Boswell; Music Credit: Our Story