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Michael John Unger

@michaeljohnunger

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Director of Programming - @spacecentreyvr, Co-boss @nerdniteyvr Manager of Community Engagement @sciencefairs - podcast Let’s Innovate!

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Michael is the Director of Programming at the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre. He’s most passionate about finding new ways to connect to audiences, finding new perspectives from the diversity of humanity to look out into the cosmos and feel a sense of wonder and curiosity about the universe and our place in it.

In 2020 he started working with the Science Fair Foundation of BC, and is now the Manager of Community Engagement. For the past few years he’s been working closely with the organization as they find new ways to give space for kids to showcase their ideas, and help by providing them with mentorship opportunities, and a platform like on their podcast Let’s Innovate. He’s very excited to continue this work of inspiring curiosity in the minds of the youth for tomorrow’s future.

He’s also on the Board of Directors for the Canadian Satellite Design Challenge, which has university, and high school level competitions. Just recently he was in Lethbridge Alberta judging the 2022 CanSat competition that saw one team from Surrey, BC go to the European Space Agency CanSat competition in Italy.

He also manages SCI-CATs (Science Communication Action Team). They are a team of science communicators that have created open source teaching modules that span a range of science communication topics. He has managed a variety of workshops, and seminars from places like science conferences, to team building days.

He’s also one of the founders of Nerd Nite Vancouver a bar lecture series which has just returned back to the stage at the Fox Cabaret where they do 4 shows a year.

#space #aerospace #montreal #spaceconference by @michaeljohnunger

This is your reminder to look up at the sky and gaze at the stars ✨ ⭐️ 🌟

I commend organizations like the @spacecentreyvr @bc_brainwellness for coming together to imbed mindfulness in their programs, hosting a sunset meditation under the stars on Friday Jan 23.

A big thank you to @michaeljohnunger and Alisa Hashimoto from @bc_brainwellness for joining me this morning.

The cosmos and our own consciousness are inextricably linked and I think it is really important at this point in society to remember we are all connected, all suspended in the vastness of the universe together. That knowing helps me find peace when the world seems like it’s falling apart…I hope it does the same for you 🌎🙏✨
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#wellnesswednesday #wellnessjourney #wellness #meditation #sunsetmeditation #hrmacmillanspacecentre #spacecentre #cosmosandconsciousness #universe #universal #globalnews #morningnews #globalbc #healthandwellness #gratitude #awakening by @michaeljohnunger

“For the Ininiw (Cree), Kitcikisik, the great sky, was an indicator of unfathomable immensity, where only your Pawamiuk (dreams) could offer glimpses of the infinite possibilities the sky represented.”
- Wilfred Buck, Cree Astronomer

For the Cree, to look up is to look within. The stars are not distant, they are reflections of Earth and of us. We are made of star-energy (akakosuk), bound to the sky through stories, origins, and the invisible threads of cosmic relation. Even the word for stars, acakosuk, carries light in its root: acak, energy, essence, illumination.

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This way of seeing shifts the Western gaze. The cosmos is not a window in the ether, but a mirror of being. The unknown is not a void, but a relationship waiting to be remembered.

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When I imagine Earth looking back at the stars, I see how reflection itself is a teacher. Light returns to light, and through that return we understand. Just as we learn about ourselves through the eyes that truly see us.

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The stars hold the energy of our ancestors, their molecules, their memory, interwoven, recycled, and shining back toward us.

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Every exchange, a laugh, a story, a moment of recognition, is light matter, weaving us together across time. By seeing each other, we affirm that we exist. We spark life into eternity.

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All we have to do is look up.
And at each other.
#cosmicperspective ✨ by @michaeljohnunger

“Forests aren’t simply collections of trees, they’re complex systems with hubs and networks that overlap and connect trees and allow them to communicate.” - @drsuzannesimard

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When I read Simard’s words, I think of the forest breathing through its hidden networks, sharing carbon and wisdom, keeping the whole alive.

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We are like this too. Our lives are a network, of conversations, relationships, acts of care, holding us in balance even when we feel alone.

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On equinox, I pause to notice these connections. To give when I have plenty, to receive when I am in need, to remember that balance is not stillness but a living exchange.

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Tonight, as the planet tilts, I try to feel my own roots. To sense the network under my feet, and to whisper back: I’m here. #cosmicperspective

IMAGE: NGC 2264, Cone Nebula, Fox Fur Nebula

Source: NoirLab by @michaeljohnunger

Pogue Colonel: You write “Born to Kill” on your helmet and you wear a peace button. What’s that supposed to be, some kind of sick joke?

Private Joker: I think I was trying to suggest something about the duality of man, sir!

Full Metal Jacket (1987)

The equinox is a cosmic balance point—where light and dark meet as equals, if only for a moment. It’s the universe whispering: everything exists in contrast. Day needs night. Growth needs rest. Motion needs stillness.

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There are times when I find myself wanting to be the good Christian boy that turned the other cheek when challenged in a fight when I was eight. I was bullied more because I wouldn’t give in to them. One day I asked to borrow my Mom’s camera. When she asked why, I said that I liked them, they were cool, and deep down I did want to punch them, but I also wanted to take their picture.

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We like to think of opposites as separate, but they are lovers, not rivals. The sun surrenders to the night, only to rise again. The seasons trade places in an eternal waltz. Even within us—joy and sorrow, strength and softness, chaos and order—exist in a delicate rhythm.

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The everyday practice of balance is a dance. Some days are yearning, some days are for crying, some days are for satisfaction. The Sun has been staying up just a little bit longer, it hits different parts of the room at different times, at a different angle. Just a few minutes here and there everyday, almost imperceptible unless you notice how the year is changing, and how I am changing from Johnny Yesterday to Johnny Tomorrow.

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The equinox reminds us: duality is not division—it is the foundation of harmony. There is no need to choose one over the other. We are meant to hold both, to shift with the tides, to embrace the full spectrum of what it means to be alive. We are the Tin Man and the Scarecrow.

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For today, let yourself be both. The sun and the moon. The fire and the water. The inhale and the exhale. A being of balance, standing at the center of it all. Namaste fucker 🌞🌑✨

Picture: The Engraved Hourglass Nebula - Source NASA by @michaeljohnunger

Solstice is stillness.

Stillness is awareness.

Awareness is illuminating the darkness in the self.

In astronomy darkness is synonymous with the unknown. The dark night sky is filled with mystery. So, on the still solstice day and long night, we can illuminate the self in its place in the universe. Who we are in this time. How much change we have encountered. How the world around us has changed. How we contribute and adapt to this change around us. How we see the light and the darkness around us. How we acknowledge and celebrate ourselves in this place, despite our inner challenges, despite the suffering on the planet, a planet of inner and outer conflict that is our home.

Our care of our inner and outer homes will make the universe a better place. We are at our best when we are aware of us and everything and everyone around us, our universe. Our best selves are the universe, together on a planet with a lot to learn and discover in darkness.

Stillness is solstice. by @michaeljohnunger

“We’re all just walking each other home.“ - Ram Dass

In 1982 I lived on a street called Sunshine Drive. As a five year old I would think about a solar system like a street, and the houses being all of the planets, asteroids, and moons that reside in it. At the end of the street was the Elementary School, Sunshine Hills, and in September 1982 the day finally came that I was to make the journey to this school for the first time. As I packed my bag full of supplies for this adventure, I expected that I would take this walk down the solar system and I was excited because it was my autonomous journey. My mother wanted to escort me, which frustrated me, because I felt this was a journey that I had to undertake alone. I raced ahead, and yelled at her behind me to go home. When I got to the classroom filled with strange faces, a terrifying new space, I felt a deep terror, and cried until my mother came and picked me up.

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I still use the solar system as a street analogy in my science communication, because it helps people perceive the grand tapestry of the universe. The galaxy is a country, and the universe is the world. We may seem insignificant, but we are woven in the very fabric of the cosmos together.

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When we walk each other home, we extend a hand to those in need, offering guidance, compassion, and kindness. We lend our strength to those who stumble, our wisdom to those who seek knowledge, and our love to those who crave acceptance. But what is home? Some may not have one, and some have had theirs taken away. As we zoom out to the country as a galaxy we see that it is not uniform. The stars that make it up are not equal. It is the galaxy that we live in, and it is the place that despite all its differences is where our journey home will end. It is the beginning and end of us, and we do it together.

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Each house on this street we live on has a story to tell, so let’s learn as much as we can, and tell those stories to as many people as we can. If we’re all going home, let’s make sure we all get there together for us, and for those left behind.

#cosmicperspective by @michaeljohnunger

Last Day of the Season

The trampoline was deep orange, like the colour of the sun just about to set. It was called Sundance. If the Sun is a dancer, it’s a very methodical one, very predictable, but we find the beauty in this final movement no less captivating even when we know it’s coming. There is something different about a Sun making its final arc of the day, and that is your vantage point in time and space. It’s the colour that your eyes see, that your brain interprets, it’s the seeing that matters.

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The seeing of red in the sky is a sailors delight. It’s a fortune for the future, a pleasant day to look forward to. Smooth sailing, peace, and possibly prosperity. There’s an arc, a reflection, multiple bounces of photons to give us vibrant colour. The photons don’t know they are doing this, nor is the atmosphere that they are bending around. It is the human eye that is connected to the human brain and human heart that know what they are doing. There’s a reason why a camera cannot accurately depict what a sunset is, it’s the feeling that matters.

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The trampoline had blue metal bars, and rusted springs. A pool of water built on top creating an ocean, sagging the fabric down to the soggy Earth where tiny blades of grass struggled to sprout. In a matter of time over the season, everything had become something else. Growth, and decay at the exact same moment, it’s the eyes that see, and the body that feels that this is the last day of the season, but entropy has no season. It’s the time that matters. #cosmicperspective

Art by: @collagesoul by @michaeljohnunger

Sometimes the sky hits such a deep blue, that it’s like looking down on the ocean far away and above this plain, and I remember that I’m really far away from everyone.

I’m floating there just staring at this vast stretch of colour when I see my friend, and I’m like,

Hi! Can you see me? I’m in space!

#cosmicperspective by @michaeljohnunger

“If we take eternity to mean not infinite temporal duration but timelessness, then eternal life belongs to those who live in the present. Our life has no end in the way in which our visual field has no limits.”

― Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

On a clear day you can see forever.

A few years ago I fulfilled a childhood dream and did a trip to New York. The Mets were my favourite team, all my favourite movies were set there, and when I got there it felt like home, like I had already lived there, and I had returned. I did all things. I went to 53rd and 3rd and tried to turn a trick, but it was banks now. I went to the intersection in the movie Midnight Cowboy and tried to say "I'm walking here", but a polite police person directed traffic to make sure there was no surly interactions. I ran through Central Park, but did not find any bodies like in a typical Law and Order episode.

I figured I should also check out the Statue of Liberty and made my way down to that area of Manhattan. It was a very foggy day, and I walked around the area trying to find a good spot, I saw people loading into a tour boat right in front of me, but I couldn't see it. I asked someone walking by where Lady Liberty was, and they pointed out right where I was looking and laughed. "Well she's usually right there."

Not all days are clear days, and not all nights are clear nights, but you still remember the stars. You remember forever. The stars have always been in yours, and everyone's lifetime. The stars are the same, they may be in different positions, but they're always there. For us mortal humans the concept of forever may not mean much because we know there is an end to our time here. Even the Universe knows it has an end, even if it is in a very long time, but it has no consciousness to put an emotion on that forever. It only has the now. The present.

On clear night you can see all of time.

#CosmicPerspective

Art: @collagesoul by @michaeljohnunger

I see you, you're not alone.

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When we record ourselves, we are documenting for the future. Technology will change and become obsolete, but more importantly who will care? This act of time travelling is an act of self-reflection, the moment in the mirror when you remind yourself that you exist.

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When my Dad bought a VHS camcorder in the 1980's suddenly any innocuous moment could be an important moment of reflection. My Dad is in the bathroom, filming my sister in the tub. She plays to the camera, mugging to it with soap bubble beards. He turns the camera around to me sitting on the long sink counter, my legs draped over the sink with my head leaning against the mirror. My Dad asks me, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" My Mother then bursts in and asks incredulously "What is going on here?"  The camera pans back to me, and I say tediously "I want to be a time traveller."

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In 1977 the two Voyager spacecrafts did a grand tour of the Solar System. On each of those spacecrafts were golden records which had recordings of all life on Earth. Sounds of animals, industry, language, and music. These records are analog long-playing phonographs that were popular in the 1970's. The spacecraft were then flung out into interstellar space, however it won’t be until after another 40,000 years that Voyager and the golden record will reach the nearest star Proxima Centauri, and even though there have been recently discovered planets around this star, the chances of there being life, let alone intelligent enough to figure out what an LP is, is remote.

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The act of the golden records, much like the VHS camcorder in the bathroom, are less to preserve an archive and more to activate our time traveller sensibilities. We don't exist, unless we are seen, not just by others, but by ourselves. Who are we? Where did we come from? Where are we going? Why are we here? These are the eternal questions science tackles for humanity, and spiritually we ask ourselves those same questions. If you were to send a message to your future self, what would you say?
#cosmicperspective

Art: @cult.class by @michaeljohnunger

When you look at a baseball card you get a snapshot of a player, the name, the team they play for. On the back you get information about the player, some basic stats like date of birth, but also of their playing career. It's a numerical catalogue of their baseball career, their playing life.

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If you were to make a baseball card of a distant galaxy. On the front you would expect a dynamic image, likely taken by the Hubble Space Telescope of billions of shimmering stars, swirling around is a spiral shape. To the eye it's pleasing, it's vast, it's euphoric in its awe. On the back of the card what would be there?  A count of how many stars there are? The date of discovery, and by whom? But if there were statistics, of every year of existence of this galaxy, what would be in there? There would be far too many lines every year, so you would edit it down to the most important numbers, the numbers that would give a different kind of picture.

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What information would be on the Milky Way card? 400 billion stars, trillions and trillions of planets. Inside of this galaxy of course is us. How do we fit into the story of this galaxy? Are we the only the life in this galaxy? Are we the only intelligent life? How does human life contribute to the story of this galaxy?

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Inside one of these number column is the story of you, everyone you know, and all of the humans you don't know. On a grand scale humans are a collective of individuals, but as far as the universe is concerned, we are just a number, a blip, a washed out point of light. The same goes for inside of our bodies, the micro universe where an individual atom, a molecule is not important, but collectively on the back of your baseball card it adds up to your story, which in turn is our story.

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We are not special, but we do matter. Our cosmic baseball card gives us two pictures of our place in the universe, a majestic picture of how beautifully invisible we are, and the numerical story of how collectively we are unique. #SolsticeCosmicPerspective

Art: @the_real_theory by @michaeljohnunger