When I was a very young boy I first read about black holes – a space oddity that blew my childlike mind away. For me black holes are never ending stories. Maybe the greatest never ending story of the cosmos. I dreamed of going through black holes, to other universes, to points in the cosmic timeline. I dreamed of all kinds of possibilities and alternative realities of my life.

I learned how space and time are magical, coexisting, bounded together in a eternal dance making all that is or ever was or ever will be. I imagined in my lifetime we humans would capture a black hole on camera. And we did.

Our story on Earth is forever intertwined with the never ending story of the universe. The singularity of life stems from the heart. We are all never ending stories as we pass the event horizon of our lives into our own black holes where anything and everything is possible.

New Year’s Eve leading into New Year’s Day: the New Horizons spacecraft is making a historical flyby in the Kuiper belt tonight. Why is this a big deal? Well if you are like me and interested in very important and awesome things like the universe, our solar system, the how’s and why’s, you know the big questions about life, the universe and everything then you will appreciate the scale of this flyby.

New Horizons is making a pass on a 30km rocky object known as Ultima Thule – marking the farthest ever exploration of a Solar System body. The object was only discovered 4 years ago by the Hubble telescope. Just happen to be perfect timing and reachable. Ultima Thule is a latin phrase for “a place beyond the known world”. It blows my mind when I think about the potential of space exploration and what it all means for our humanity on Earth.

Anyway this flyby will give us cool images and data. Exploring the Kuiper belt could give us valuable clues into how the Solar System was formed 4.6 billion years ago. For example it might provide insights into planet formation which is essential to understanding origins of life. As we explore the universe, we are unravelling the big picture, one small picture at a time. Like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. Piece by piece.

By putting the pieces together we are discovering the story of the universe, ultimately the story of humanity. On the surface this is just one piece of many. But it takes a piece to lead to another. Imagine someday we might be the ones creating the jigsaw puzzle for other civilizations to put together. Be sure to check out the live coverage of this flyby. Be curious my friends! Always. Make 2019 a time beyond the known world. Make it your time! Your world! Your new horizon!

The light in his eyes told a story as he gazed upon the trees in sunlight on the train through the English countryside. He thought about the boy he was once, about the land, this land where his story began. He spent a lot of time growing up around trees. He remembered the tree he named “Sun Tree”. For him the trees were old as time. The trees were like stars to him. Every tree a star. Ageless. Timeless. Givers of life. He use to imagine climbing on his Sun Tree to the stars. He thanked the Sun for giving life to the trees, for giving life to him. As the boy grew to become a man the trees grew with him. The story of the trees was his story and continues to this day. Every tree a star. Ageless. Timeless.

Time is like a story telling space this is what happened or is happening or will happen but it’s also telling space it can change the story, it can change time like time can change space. The two are always connected in a never-ending ever-expanding cosmic dance.

Imagine your life as a timeline. Imagine you can see it all before you, from the very beginning to the very end. Every instant. How it’s all connected moment by moment. As an observer looking into your own timeline you can’t help but be emotionally, mentally and physically connected. You have the urge to change time, to change an instant in your timeline so you can change the outcome of later events.

By your very knowledge of your timeline and your ability to change it also changes you as a person. You’re not you anymore. You become someone else. Maybe you become some other you in some other universe. The person you know to be you cease to exist so does everything you ever felt or remembered or experienced. By changing time you’re changing your very own existence. Maybe we’re already doing it and don’t realise it. Maybe every possible version of us does exist in every possible parallel universe and somehow in this universe along our timeline we have moments where we feel connected to moments in our other possible timelines.

As a storyteller I enjoy entertaining my wild thoughts and ideas. I imagine and create worlds where anything and everything is possible. The bridge between reality and imagination is life itself. As a man of science I’m driven by discovering the universe for what it is not what we wish it to be. This very journey of discovering the universe is not only mind-blowing beyond anything we can ever wish for or imagine, it’s a journey of self discovery, a journey that takes us closer to knowing the cosmos like we have never known before. To be both is to be one, to be me.

As I take my next trip around the Sun I’m reminded how amazing this regular yellow dwarf star make our lives possible on this tiny rocky planet. I thank the Sun for all my years and for many more to come. Until next time keep looking up to the stars…and beyond.

📷: Me. Watching the sunset at White Sands, New Mexico this time last year.

When I was a boy growing up in Nottingham I did not quite fit in with the world around me. I was a loner. Different. Unique. I mostly kept to myself. I felt like I didn’t belong. I was very shy, had a speech impediment, unconfident…just to name a few. I have come a long way.

I was not able to make human connections because other humans barely noticed me. Whenever I was noticed I was either treated like a punching bag or just made fun of. Boyhood was torture. Puberty was a killer.

So I invented a game to help me deal with the craziness of the world. The weather was usually bad, filled with a continuous overcast. English weather. But for me it was a beautiful escape especially when it rained. It was a chance for me to explore my curiosity and imagination. I played a game where I would look up at the grey clouds and look beyond the clouds.

I knew the stars were still there shining even though I could not see them. All I had to do was look closer. All I had to do was imagine. I could see infinite worlds and endless possibilities. My head was not just in the clouds…it was in the stars.

I would spend hours imagining and dreaming of what is out there. I would sometimes imagine a world where I was not the boy I was in real life and escape this cruel reality. I still play this game. I still use this to help me. No matter how cloudy the day gets the stars are always there shining. When I go beyond the clouds to the stars I am not only free, I become what I dream…in real life.