Everybody lives on a street in a city
Or a village or a town for what it's worth.
And they're all inside a country which is part of a continent
That sits upon a planet known as Earth.
And the Earth is a ball full of oceans and some mountains
Which is out there spinning silently in space.
And living on that Earth are the plants and the animals
And also the entire human race.

It's a great big universe
And we're all really puny
We're just tiny little specks
About the size of Mickey Rooney
It's big and black and inky
And we are small and dinky
It's a big universe and we're not.

And we're part of a vast interplanetary system
Stretching seven hundred billion miles long.
With nine planets and a sun; we think the Earth's the only one
That has life on it, although we could be wrong.
Across the interstellar voids are a billion asteroids
Including meteors and Halley's Comet too.
And there's over fifty moons floating out there like balloons
In a panoramic trillion-mile view!

And still it's all a speck amid a hundred billion stars
In a galaxy we call the Milky Way.
It's sixty thousand trillion miles from one end to the other
And still that's just a fraction of the way.
'Cause there's a hundred billion galaxies that stretch across the sky
Filled with constellations, planets, moons and stars.
And still the universe extends to a place that never ends
Which is maybe just inside a little jar!

It's a great big universe
And we're all really puny
We're just tiny little specks
About the size of Mickey Rooney
You might think that you're essential
Try inconsequential
It's a small world after all!

- Randy Rogel, Animaniacs Episode 3 - "Yakko's Universe"

Prior to attending the university, I was certain that I would major in astrophysics ... then I sold out. Nevertheless, astronomy remains close to my thoughts.

I was attracted to space at a very young age. I remember studying a cross-sectional view of the Saturn V rocket, and devising plans to construct a rocket of my own in my backyard, along with a few friends of mine; my zeal was infectious. I figured that sheet metal was hard to find, so we could probably use a combination of corrugated cardboard and starched paper mache. Then all we needed were the hydrogen tanks ...

Currently there is only a gallery of photographs available for browsing. I may add more parts to this astronomy section in the future.