I found myself outdoors, among a small group of fellow onlookers, watching an unbelievable sight slowly unfold in the black, wintry night sky. Two planets, identical to the Earth in composition and much nearer to us than is the moon, were on a collision course with each other. They approached with the grace of a slow-tempo symphony, evoking scenes from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Lit by the spotlight of the sun, their circumferential borders were sharp against the black and stars, their swirling clouds drifting over their land and seas. On striking, they shed extending crowns of mass into the void like Edgerton’s Milk Drop Coronet. People gasped and shrieked. I shouted, the exclamation leaving my mouth with the viscosity of honey such that its duration stretched in accordance with slowing time, holllyyy…fuuck!