{"id":793596,"date":"2025-02-14T07:45:17","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T12:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=793596"},"modified":"2025-02-14T07:45:17","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T12:45:17","slug":"pale-blue-dot-35-years-later-earth-in-a-sunbeam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=793596","title":{"rendered":"Pale Blue Dot 35 years later: Earth in a sunbeam"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nView larger. | In this image from Voyager 1 \u2013 acquired on February 14, 1990, from a distance slightly past the orbit of Saturn \u2013 planet Earth appears as a pale blue dot within the sunbeam, just right of center. As you can see, the blue glow of Earth occupies less than a single pixel so it\u2019s not fully resolved. Image via NASA.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
February 14, 1990: the Pale Blue Dot<\/h3>\n
The Voyager 1 spacecraft, out near Saturn, took this iconic image of Earth 35 years ago. It turned out to be one of the most memorable images ever taken from space. Astronomer Carl Sagan wrote in his 1994 book Pale Blue Dot:<\/p>\n
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Look again at that dot. That\u2019s here. That\u2019s home. That\u2019s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every \u2018superstar,\u2019 every \u2018supreme leader,\u2019 every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there \u2013 on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
An updated look at the Pale Blue Dot<\/h3>\n
NASA said on February 12, 2020, that it has now updated the Pale Blue Dot image, using modern image-processing software and techniques. NASA explained:<\/p>\n
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\u2026 the Voyager project planned to shut off the Voyager 1 spacecraft\u2019s imaging cameras to conserve power because the probe \u2013 along with its sibling Voyager 2 \u2013 would not fly close enough to any other objects to take pictures. Before the shutdown, the mission commanded the probe to take a series of 60 images designed to produce what they termed the Family Portrait of the Solar System. Executed on Valentine\u2019s Day 1990, this sequence returned images for making color views of six of the solar system\u2019s planets and also imaged the sun in monochrome.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
2025 EarthSky lunar calendar. A unique and beautiful poster-sized calendar showing phases of the moon every night of the year. Makes a great gift!<\/p>\n
Carl Sagan named the image<\/h3>\n
The popular name of this view comes from the title of the 1994 book by Voyager imaging scientist Carl Sagan. He originated the idea of using Voyager\u2019s cameras to image the distant Earth and played a critical role in getting the family portrait taken.<\/p>\n
The direction of the sun is toward the bottom of the view (where the image is brightest). Rays of sunlight scattered within the camera optics stretch across the scene. By coincidence, one of those light rays intersects dramatically with Earth.<\/p>\n
From Voyager 1\u2019s vantage point \u2013 a distance of approximately 3.8 billion miles (6 billion km) \u2013 Earth appears separated from the sun by only a few degrees. The close proximity of the inner planets to the sun was a key factor as to why engineers couldn\u2019t take these images earlier in the mission. At that time, our star was still close and bright enough to damage the cameras with its blinding glare.<\/p>\n
Scientists combined green, blue and violet spectral filters from the Voyager 1 Narrow-Angle Camera for this composite. Voyager took these photos at 4:48 UTC on February 14, 1990. That was just 34 minutes before Voyager 1 powered off its cameras forever.<\/p>\n
Our family portrait<\/h3>\nView larger. | The Family Portrait of the Solar System. Voyager 1 acquired this series of 60 images on February 14, 1990. Image via NASA.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nView larger. | This simulated view from NASA\u2019s Eyes on the Solar System app shows Voyager 1\u2019s perspective when it took its final series of images. This Family Portrait of the Solar System<\/em> includes the Pale Blue Dot image. Image via NASA.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Bottom line: February 14, 2025, is the 35th anniversary of the Voyager 1 image of Earth. Voyager was near Saturn when it took this image, which is now known as the Pale Blue Dot.<\/p>\n
Via NASA<\/p>\n
Read more: Hera spots Earth and the moon from space. See it here!<\/p>\n
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Deborah Byrd<\/h4>\n
View Articles\n <\/p><\/div>\n
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About the Author:<\/h6>\n
Our Editor-in-Chief Deborah Byrd works to keep all the astronomy balls in the air between EarthSky’s website, YouTube page and social media platforms. She’s the primary editor of our popular daily newsletter and a frequent host of EarthSky livestreams. Deborah created the EarthSky radio series in 1991 and founded EarthSky.org in 1994. Prior to that, she had worked for the University of Texas McDonald Observatory since 1976, and created and produced their Star Date radio series. She has won a galaxy of awards from the broadcasting and science communities, including having an asteroid named 3505 Byrd in her honor. In 2020, she won the Education Prize from the American Astronomical Society, the largest organization of professional astronomers in North America. A science communicator and educator since 1976, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and a vital tool for the 21st century. “Being an EarthSky editor is like hosting a big global party for cool nature-lovers,” she says.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
![\"Diagram](\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2020\/02\/family-portrait-solar-system-scaled-e1581631179388.jpg\")
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