While there are many things in life that I care about, the one thing that truly matters is how we treat each other.
If we change nothing more than the self-serving apathy that runs rampant throughout all of our societies, we level up in an indescribable way. The impact would be unfathomable.
Love, kindness, and compassion are literally all we need to change the course of our species and our planet.
These four captivating photos were taken from space, offering breathtaking perspectives of our planet Earth. Each image provides a unique view that invites viewers to marvel at the beauty and complexity of our world from a perspective that few ever get to experience firsthand.
As we celebrate Earth Day, let’s embrace it as a crucial reminder of our collective responsibility to preserve and protect our planet. It’s a day to reflect on the beauty and bounty that the Earth provides and to reaffirm our commitment to sustainability.
#PPOD: Earth hangs above a large boulder examined by Apollo 17 astronauts Gene Cernan and Jack Schmidt in December 1972. A recent analysis of freshly opened samples from Apollo 17 found that the Moon is at least 4.46 billion years old, or roughly 40 million years older than revealed by other samples. Credit: NASA
Taken on #ValentinesDay 1990, the Pale Blue Dot: Planet Earth, taken by Voyager 1 from 6 billion km away, as it prepared to head out of our solar system after exploring Saturn & Jupiter.
This photo of Earth was captured 33 rotations ago today, 6 million km from the sun.
There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.
—Carl Sagan
34 years ago, on Feb 14, 1990, Voyager 1 took this image of the "Pale Blue Dot" from 6 billion km away, minutes before its cameras were shut off forever.
Carl Sagan, who played a key role in the mission wrote -
"To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.”
34 years later, how well are we doing on these 2 counts? How can we do better?
Here is Carl Sagan unveiling the Pale Blue Dot image on June 6, 1990 and eloquently describing what that image meant for humanity.
"Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves."
The "Pale Blue Dot" image was part of the "Family Portrait" set of images taken by Voyager 1 on Feb 14, 1990.
Taken from a vantage point 6 billion km away and about 32 degrees above the ecliptic, this mosaic of 60 frames captured 6 planets - Jupiter, Earth, Venus, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
« Regardez ce point. C’est ici. C’est notre foyer. C’est nous. Dessus se trouvent tous ceux que vous aimez, tous ceux que vous connaissez, tous ceux dont vous avez jamais entendu parler, tous les êtres humains qui aient jamais vécu. La somme de nos joies et de nos souffrances.
1/6
The Voyager 1 spacecraft earlier today transmitted a 6.5 hour playback of data from its 8-track digital tape recorder (DTR)!
This data will arrive 22.5 hours later between 10:37 and 17:13 UTC on Thu, Nov 9 and be captured using 5 arrayed antennas at the NASA DSN Madrid site in Robledo de Chavela, Spain.
Tx rate = 1.4 kbps instead of the normal 160 bps, which requires simultaneous reception by the 5 antennas.
1.4 kbps * 6.5 hours = 4 Mbytes
Happy Birthday to Carl Sagan, who would be 89 today.
Sagan famously wrote about the 'Pale Blue Dot' - "Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives."
Voyager 1 took the image of the "Pale Blue Dot" on Feb 14, 1990, from 6 bil km away, minutes before its cameras were shut off forever.
NASA is sending a software update to the Voyager 2 spacecraft today!
The patch contains logic to auto-recover from glitches similar to one in May 2022, when the AACS system on Voyager 1 started sending garbled data. The root cause was not fully diagnosed. The patch will be activated/tested on Oct 28. Voyager 1 will be next.
Data will be sent at 16 bps with a 19 kW transmitter using the 70-m dish at @canberradsn.
Distance: 20 billion km; 18:40 light hours
It was 33 years ago, on Feb 14, 1990, when Voyager 1 took the image of the "Pale Blue Dot" from 6 bil km away, minutes before its cameras were shut off forever.
Carl Sagan, who played a key role in the mission and brought it to life, famously wrote - "Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives."
How would we know whether there is life on Earth? This bold experiment found out.
A fascinating Nature essay: "Thirty years ago, astronomer Carl Sagan convinced NASA to turn a passing space probe’s instruments on Earth to look for life — with results that still reverberate today."
Four pictures taken by NASA missions over time. The product of human intelligence mixed to our curiosity and that persistent question in our mind: are we alone?
Four pictures that should give us a better perspective about our life, and how rare and precious our planet is, with its life, in the vast emptiness of the Universe.
In order, the pictures:
1968, 175,000 miles, from Apollo 8 around Moon
2014, 99 million miles, from Curiosity on Mars
2013, 898 million miles, from Cassini around Saturn
In einem Podcast lief letztens das Thema #PaleBlueDot an mit vorbei. Die Idee, sich dessen bewusst zu werden, wie klein man selber und seine eigenen Probleme sind (im kosmischen Vergleich) fand ich charmant und wollte mir dieses Bild ebenfalls an den Schreibtisch hängen.
Leider gefiel mir kein angebotenes Poster oder ich fand es einfach zu teuer. Also habe ich mir selber eines gebaut, welches Ihr gerne nutzen dürft:
It's the June (summer/winter) solstice period on this pale blue dot, and was a hot one here, getting up to 36-37 C. Sun's up early and went away late, all as the cycle continues... #JuneSolstice#SummerSolstice#WinterSolstice#PaleBlueDot
Featuring a paper by Carl Sagan and co-authors on a search for life on the pale blue dot from the Galileo spacecraft, as a control experiment for the search for extraterrestrial life by interplanetary missions.