Can you see our home?
It is a photo taken 6 Billion, yes, Billion kilometers from earth by the Voyager satellite. When you see the whole world we live in as a small spec of dust it certainly makes you feel very humble.
The Pale Blue Dot is an inspirational reminder of our place in the universe. On February 14th, 1990, NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft took a photograph of Earth from 3.7 billion miles away. From that distant view, our planet appeared as just a single point of light in the darkness – this is what we now know as The Pale Blue Dot.
Voyager 1 was also able to capture images of other planets in our Solar System such as Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter and Venus (though Mars was too small to be seen at such a distance). Together these incredible photographs gave us an awe-inspiring view of our home world and its neighbours in the night sky.
What makes this even more amazing is that these images were taken by a spacecraft travelling much farther away than most of us will ever get to travel! The Pale Blue Dot reminds us of how special and fragile Earth is, and how lucky we are to call it home. So the next time you look up at the night sky, remember The Pale Blue Dot and be thankful for all its beauty.
The next time you see the stars, look up and remember you are amazing and unique in the universe.
