Mark Kinsler| Correspondent

Natalie and I have just managed to miss yet another meteor shower. She is displeased, for she is a space enthusiast, ready to chase any extraterrestrial phenomenon. We took an astronomy class together, learning far more than wed intended, but we still miss meteor showers.

Space travel is a popular news topic just lately. But the stories about moon colonies and trips to Mars are, alas, just science fiction, for laws of nature are strictly enforced.Unfair as it may be, we cant achieve even a small portion of what our imaginations have wrought.Note:

1. Were not traveling to Mars or anywhere else far outside our protective atmosphere until someone figures out how to keep the brave young astronauts from frying in space radiation.My radio-astronomer friend Dave says that a safe spaceship needs 15 pounds of shielding over each square inch of its outer surface, and thats way too much lead to fly. NASA and them know this, but have no solution, so we orbit our space station low and kept our manned moon missions short to limit radiation exposure.

2. We will never travel at warp speed. The Enterprise cruises at 1000 times the speed of light, which is easy to do on TV but impossible for us.Nothing moves faster than light, and scientific progress wont change that.

3. Were all alone out here.Radio and TV have been broadcasting for 120 years, so anyone farther than 120 light-years away wont have heard us yet, and their spaceships cant go faster than ours. There may be lots of Other Folks living out there, but theyre simply too far away to call or visit.

Now, humble thyself with this fun fact:

What astronomers call the universe is all the stars and nebulae and planets (and us) that were formed after an explosion 4 billion years ago (cause still under investigation.) But the empty space beyond our cloud of stuff never ends. Ever.

What do you mean, It gives you the willies? asked Natalie.

Mark Kinsler, kinsler33@gmail.com, lives and occasionally scans the skies with Natalie in our old house in Lancaster. Two alley cats preside.

Original post:

Kinsler column: We are delicate, slow, and alone, but there are wonders to behold - Lancaster Eagle Gazette