What do you see when you look in the mirror?

Astronomy is a very large part of my life and has been so since I was a small child. My parents encouraged me to read, and my father used to take me out to look at the stars. My country's space program was extremely active and getting ready to send people to the Moon. So, I grew up thinking that I would either be an astronaut or somehow end up living on the Moon or Mars.

I have always been impressed by science fiction, and began reading that genre at an early age. When Star Trek came along, its messages of humans spreading to the stars were very attractive. I remain, to this day, a Trekkie.

So, astronomy colors my viewpoint of life on this planet. Today, I am NOT on the Moon, but I've turned my ambitions toward learning astronomy and sharing the science of astronomy with others. What the science of astronomy has taught me to look at myself and the cosmos around me with enquiring eyes. If I could take everyone on the planet out to look at the stars and learn even a little of what astronomers have learned about the universe, and how the complex chemical assemblages that make up life and our planet came from other stars, I think we would all be changed as a species forever.

As I imply in my video: we are all star stuff. When I look in the mirror, I see stars. So will you... if you know how to look.