Equilibrium

This is an attempt to illustrate some of the connections we see all around the universe.

Some key concepts and elements:

- The Earth: our home, located at a distance from the Sun (along with other factors) that allows liquid water to form and harbor life.
- The Milky Way galaxy: our home as well, "the backbone of the night", a galaxy among countless others. Also represents the organization of matter.
- Volcano: releases Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere, which creates a greenhouse effect that heats up the Earth and allows it to have a balanced temperature. Releases great amounts of other matter as well and shapes the land.
- Comet: responsible for the Earth's oceans, most of Earth's water are the result of comet collisions on Earth's early history.
- Particle collision: in this image this symbolizes the subdivisions of matter and the nuclear fusion that takes place in the heart of Stars.
- Stars: are responsible for the creation of complex atoms through nuclear fusion.
- Sun: our main source of heat and energy.
- Moon: responsible for the tides and a gravitational pull that keeps the Earth stable.
- Man: the being that is trying to understand all this.
- Golden spiral: a pattern that appears in nature, like the branching in trees, the arrangement of leaves on a stem, the arms of spiral galaxies or sunflower heads.
- Aurora borealis: the result of the solar wind being channeled by the Earth's magnetic field into the poles.
- Atmosphere: protects the Earth from meteors and radiation, responsible for the temperature and weather.
- Planetary nebula: the death of a Star, which releases clouds of complex and simple atoms into the universe, which will later become new solar systems.
Oceans: holds most of the water on Earth, one of the most important of Earth's systems.
Phytoplancton: responsible for most of the oxigen in the atmosphere and the basis of the ocean's ecosystems.
DNA: The structure of all life on Earth.
Hexagons: in this image they represent Cells and Molecules which constitute everything we see.

images:
Earth - Blue Marble photograph
Earth's core / Sun - The Sun
Comet - Hale-Bopp comet
Brain - Crab and Retina planetary nebulae
Eye - a globular cluster
Stars - The M24 Star Cloud in Saggitarius
Man - a stock from *watchstock
Phytoplancton - a satellite photo of blooming plancton
Volcanoes - night shots of volcanoes and the Cleveland Volcano in Alaska
Particle collisions - pictures from particle accelerators
Face - Leonardo Da Vinci's illustration from De Divina Proportione
DNA - a representation of a string of DNA molecules
Backbone / Milky Way / Galaxy - the center of our galaxy and the Whirlpool Galaxy M51
Aurora borealis - picture of the northern lights