Photography

... a very similar thought, and asking, how many millions of years account for all those varied colors of accumulated stardust, and how much is buried far below those majestic spires.
Makes me wonder how much smaller the planet must have been before all those layers collected. There are certainly areas of Mother Earth that haven't been plowed under adjoining tectonic plates, or pushed up to form crumpled mountain ranges, and can reveal the vast age of humanity's only home. It is statistically impossible for there NOT to be other advanced life forms out there, to be sure, but, to paraphrase an old adage, maybe lots of light years make for good neighbors. I wouldn't advise the denizens of any other solar systems to visit the third rock from the Sun any time soon; the natives are WAY not friendly!