The unknown often frightens people. It makes many feel lost. Alone. Insecure. For others, the unknown piques their curiosity. It makes them impatient. Proud. It makes them feel part of something bigger than themselves. And the acquisition of new knowledge about the unknown, especially knowledge that brings changes to human philosophical ideas about oneself and one's relationship with nature, will always be met with both praise and hostility.

In the Universe, there are about a trillion trillion stars. As many as the grains of sand in all the Earth's oceans. On the other hand, in the matter contained within a single thimble, we find a billion trillion atoms. So where is the center of the Universe now? Is humanity really very far from it? Or is this indeterminate center really just a matter of perspective and relativity?

From the birth of stars to black holes, from elementary particles to gravitational waves, from the farthest galaxies to the human species, this book describes the eternal journey of the matter-energy that makes up the Universe.

We are all stardust, and someday we will return to the stars. Someday there will be other worlds, filled with other beings, star-people like us, who will be born from the ashes of a, some other, dead star. A star that we today call the Sun.