Why We Love Fireworks

As I watched the dazzling fireworks exploding literally in my front yard, I was totally engaged in the explosive sights and noise.  Neighbors to the north, south, and east were setting off pyrotechnic displays of dancing fractals, energy, and color.   I thought, "why are we  so mesmerized and awed by fireworks".  What is the attraction?   Peoples of all cultures, ages, and walks of life celebrate using fireworks.  What mystical qualities are seen in FIREWORKS?

Celestial Fireworks
Like an Independence Day fireworks display, a young, glittering collection of stars looks like an aerial burst. The cluster is surrounded by clouds of interstellar gas and dust -- the raw material for new star formation. The nebula, located 20,000 light-years away in the constellation Carina, contains a central cluster of huge, hot stars, called NGC 3603.

This environment is not as peaceful as it looks. Ultraviolet radiation and violent stellar winds have blown out an enormous cavity in the gas and dust enveloping the cluster, providing an unobstructed view of the cluster.

Most of the stars in the cluster were born around the same time but differ in size, mass, temperature, and color. The course of a star's life is determined by its mass, so a cluster of a given age will contain stars in various stages of their lives, giving an opportunity for detailed analyses of stellar life cycles. NGC 3603 also contains some of the most massive stars known. These huge stars live fast and die young, burning through their hydrogen fuel quickly and ultimately ending their lives in supernova explosions.



Star clusters like NGC 3603 provide important clues to understanding the origin of massive star formation in the early, distant universe. Astronomers also use massive clusters to study distant starbursts that occur when galaxies collide, igniting a flurry of star formation. The proximity of NGC 3603 makes it an excellent lab for studying such distant and momentous events.
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, R. O'Connell (University of Virginia), F. Paresce (National Institute for Astrophysics, Bologna, Italy), E. Young (Universities Space Research Association/Ames Research Center), the WFC3 Science Oversight Committee, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA



Stardust: Toward a New Periodic Table of Elements: "'Stars mimic living systems. They are born, live to maturity at metabolic rates determined by their masses, and die, spewing forth the matter by which their stellar offspring can take form. Throughout, they convert the light atoms of their birth into the heavier ones dispersed at death. The chemicals that constitute our beings were manufactured in the bowels of stars that today exist only as memories.' — George A. Seielstad, 'Cosmic Ecology,' 1983."



Toward a New PeriodicStardust: T Table of Elements: "We are made of STARDUST — recycled stardust!




We are star stuff, PONDERING the stars.



Humans are star stuff evolved to the point that it can begin to know and marvel at its own magnificent STORY.



Our ANCESTORS include ancient stars. Stars are part of our GENEALOGY.



HELIUM is the only chemical element within Earth that was created right here (from decay of radioactive elements).



OUR SUN, when it is dying, will contribute CARBON back into the galaxy — perhaps for future generations of living planets to make use of.



Most of the NITROGEN cycling within the Earth system was forged in the bellies of RED GIANT STARS"

Every atom of IRON within our blood was at one time inside the core of a star and gumming up the works, so to speak.




As more iron forms, the star cools, becomes less luminous, and then gravity takes over. Everything collapses, then rebounds in a SUPERNOVA EXPLOSION.



All of our "precious metals" (GOLD, SILVER, PLATINUM) were created in that supernova explosion.



When a single star explodes as a supernova, it shines brighter than 100 galaxies for several days, and it remains BRIGHTER THAN ALL THE STARS IN A SINGLE GALAXY for about 3 or 4 months.



The more MASSIVE a star is, the faster it "burns" — and thus the SHORTER ITS LIFE. The biggest stars may live for only 50 million years.



Stars SMALLER than our Sun may live for hundreds of billions of years and create nothing more complex than helium.



The greater the CREATIVITY of a star, the shorter its life.

edit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

This image of a trio of galaxies, called Arp 194, looks like one of the galaxies has sprung a leak. The bright blue streamer is really a stretched spiral arm full of newborn blue stars. This typically happens when two galaxies interact and gravitationally tug at each other.

Credit: NASA, ESA, P. Challis and R. Kirshner Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)

This Hubble telescope image shows the supernova’s triple-ring system, including the bright spots along the inner ring of gas surrounding the exploded star. A shock wave of material unleashed by the stellar blast is slamming into regions along the inner ring, heating them up, and causing them to glow. The ring, about a light-year across, was probably shed by the star about 20,000 years before it exploded.

4th of July 2010 - Toledo, Ohio
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyRWghwn5-Y


Video shot from the tippy top of the Willis B Boyer Ship - Museum in the great city of Toledo, Ohio on the beautiful Maumee River during a private 4th of July party sponsored by the Toledo Club. (run on sentence. sorry!) 30 minutes of video compressed into 3 minutes of video. Zero edits other than in camera.




Happy 4th of July 2010  Fireworks Photos, by Andrea Magyar


Is it any wonder we love to watch firework explosions?   Many festivities wouldn't be complete without  empyrean demonstrations of fireworks that are born in the minute and then in a blink they are gone.