The unknown often scares the world. For many, it makes them feel lost, lonely, insecure. For others, the unknown piques their curiosity. It makes them impatient. Proud. It makes them feel part of something greater than themselves. And the acquisition of new knowledge about the unknown, especially knowledge that provokes changes in humanity's philosophical ideas about itself and its relationship with nature, will always be met with both praise and hostility.

In the universe, there are approximately a trillion trillion stars. As many as the grains of sand on all the Earth's oceans. And on the other hand, in the matter contained within a single thimble, we find a billion trillion atoms. So where is the center of the universe now? Is humanity really far from it? Or is this indeterminate center perhaps just a matter of perspective and relativity?

From the birth of stars to black holes, from elementary particles to gravitational waves, from the most distant galaxies to the human species, this book describes the eternal journey of the matter-energy that makes up the universe. We are all stardust, and one day we will return to the stars. One day there will be other worlds, filled with other beings, star-humans like us, born from the ashes of another dead star. A star that we now call the Sun.