Astropheas-truh-fee

n. The feeling of being stuck on Earth. It's hard not to look at the ground as you walk. But every so often you look up at the stars. Before long, you find yourself grounded again—housebound, stuck on planet Earth.

We dream of other worlds and name them after discarded gods, and they seem almost as distant. Many distant galaxies will only exist in artists' renditions. Our solar system is sparse. In textbooks, planets are nested together, because drawn to scale, they'd be so small and far apart they wouldn't fit in the same room.

It's possible our spacesuits won't need treaded boots ever again. That one day we'll tire of exploring and move back home. We'll watch our feet as we walk, occasionally hurling a probe into the abyss, like a message in a bottle.

Maybe it shouldn't matter if anyone finds it. Maybe it's like skipping a stone across a lake. It doesn't matter where it ends up. All that matters is we're here on the shore—trying to have fun, pass the time, and see how far it goes.