Kids say the cutest things.

Last night I took my niece out for a walk. While out, I paused to show her the stars.

"That one is Orion. See, those three stars are his belt, then his legs are below there. And above, you can see the stars that make his bow," I explained.

"Cool," she acknowledged.

I continued to point out more constellations. "That one is Cassiopia. It's shaped like a 'W'. Then, there is the Big Dipper, and right above us, way up there, is the Little Dipper. That bright star on the handle is the North Star. A long time ago sailors would use that star to navigate the seas at night."

She continued to stare up at the stars, her eyes twinkling back at them in awe. With her gaze still fixed upon the heavens, she asked me, "Uncle J, I don't understand. How do they all stay up there like that?"

"Well, all those little dots are big burning balls of gas, kind of like the sun. Some of them are even giant galaxies--full of billions and billions of stars. They are just really, really far away and that's why they look so small."

She looks at me and hesitates. "Yes, I understand all that. What I don't understand is why, when all the data seems to point to an expanding universe, some scientists still believe we are heading toward a Big Crunch. Wouldn't the red-shift data from the Hubble Telescope preclude that possibility?"

...


Kids say the cutest things.