You may have your own facets of space that astonish you. I know I always find myself asking the question, "Is there a dead end somewhere out there where space suddenly stops?" Then I explore the answer that there are two sides to every wall. Although you might not be able to access the other side of a wall, there is always space occupying that side. So the answer to the question is that there cannot be a dead end in outer space, right? I have no idea and it seems as though astronomers ask themselves the same question.
Beneath all of these questions we can or cannot answer about outer space, it seems to me that we are missing a not-so-obvious point of all of this: When you look up at the sky and stare at the stars, you are looking at a reflection of yourself. You ARE outer space. Of course you are in outer space, but you actually ARE outer space. You are a product of the universe and the milky way sustained by all of its elements. You came from THAT.
The relative size of everything can sometimes trick us. If you were to land on one of those distant stars you enjoy starring at that appears as a bright light far away and were to look back towards earth, what would you see? Well, you would see a very similar picture compared to what you see when you are on earth starring at that same star. The only difference is those shiny objects that decorate the sky would be rearranged, but you would once again be looking at a sky filled with stars. Earth is inside of those stars and you came from that. You are a product of the universe, the stars (aka the sun), outer space, the milky way and Earth.
To further explain, lets look at a little astronomy figures. The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy containing 100-400 billion stars and may contain at least as many planets. Yes, an additional 100-400 billions planets in our galaxy alone! Thats a pretty big freaking galaxy, right?! It definitely is even considering our nearest neighbor galaxy, Andromeda, contains around one trillion stars and just as many planets! It does not end there though: throw in the estimated 100 billion galaxies in the observed universe and we have ourselves a party, amigo!
What I am getting at with the size of the totality of the observed universe is that when you zoom out on your perception of where we are, you can begin to see where we came from. The same thing that you see when you look up at the night sky.
You came out of the universe in the neighborhood of its 100 billion galaxies. So did your Mom. So did you Dad. And so did your friends, family, dog and that tree you like to sit under in the summer and read a book that was coincidentally made from a different tree.
That's what you are: made from those same elements that blows your mind every time you find yourself on a quiet dark road and look up at the stars.
