The Known Universe takes viewers from the Himalayas through our atmosphere and the inky black of space to the afterglow of the Big Bang. Every star, planet, and quasar seen in the film is possible because of the world’s most complete four-dimensional map of the universe, the Digital Universe Atlas that is maintained and updated by astrophysicists at the American Museum of Natural History.

This film was a part of the 2009/2010 exhibition, Visions of the Cosmos: From the Milky Ocean to an Evolving Universe. And it’s awesome. 

You’re made of carbon, you’re made of oxygen, there’s iron in your blood. All of those things had to be generated inside the core of a star. There’s no other way to get them. So when you think about star stuff, look around you. Everything that you’re made of, everything the world around you is made of had to come from the belly of a star that blew up a long time ago.

The last five minutes of Extreme Stars, an episode from the Discovery Channel’s How the Universe Works.

Updated links.

From Wikipedia: 

Arachnocampa is a genus of four fungus gnat species which are, in their larval stage, glow worms. They are found mostly in New Zealand and Australia in caves and grottos, or sheltered places in forests.

The larva spins a nest out of silk on the ceiling of the cave and then hangs down as many as 70 threads of silk (called snares) from around the nest, each up to 30 or 40 cm long and holding droplets of mucus…

The larva glows to attract prey into its threads, perhaps luring them into believing they are outdoors, for the roof of a cave covered with larva can look remarkably like a starry sky at night.

Landscapes: Volume Two — the second of three, with notes here — features stunning images of Arizona and Utah, including time lapse skies filled with stars.

Via @brainpicker.