Pale Blue Dot

Pale Blue Dot was a famous image taken by Voyager 1 from a distance of 6 billion kilometres, in which Earth appeared as a pale blue dot. This happened on February 14^th, 1990, now almost 35 years ago. We learned only this week Voyager 1 has now travelled over 25 billion kilometres, and this at a relative speed of 17 km per second away from us.

From a purely scientific point of view, we didn't absolutely need this picture. We knew perfectly well Earth would appear as a pale blue dot from such a large distance. However, as a scientist concerned about the world, Dr. Carl Sagan decided back in 1990 that it would be worth the trouble to take this shot.

Indeed, the meaning of this image can’t be underestimated. Knowing how something will look like is not the same experience as actually seeing it from such a distance, be it with a remote probe. Humankind took a radical change of perspective there.

Pale Blue Dot sheds feeble light on our extreme isolation and our extreme vulnerability in the universe, something Carl Sagan had extensively explained in his famous television series Cosmos.

I refer to my blog Voyager’s Amazing Tales. 

Picture: By NASA/JPL-Caltech - https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA23645.jpg, Public Domain, Link