A Columbia College undergraduate helped out with the computer animation.
Nihilism is one possible response to grasping one's cosmic insignificance.
Another, well described in this series, is a tremendously inspiring sense of the grandeur of the universe and the remarkable fact that our one kilogram of gray matter can apprehend that grandeur in such detail. Larry Engel, professor in the Film Division of the School of the Arts and co- producer and principal cinematographer of the series, traveled to Hawaii, Chile and Australia last year to film astronomers at work at some of the world's leading observatories. A major challenge was to develop a good narrative flow for material that can be somewhat theoretical, even esoteric, he said. But the series conveys the important point that science is now learning more about the universe, and more rapidly, than ever before. We're learning how far back we can see in time and what new planets are being explored.