A Pale Blue Dot
A pale blue dot (Pale Blue Dot in English ) is a famous photograph of the planet Earth taken by the probe Voyager 1 in 1990. It is also a book inspired by this photo, written in 1994 by Carl Sagan.
Summary |
Photography
February 14, 1990, NASA commanded the probe Voyager 1 had completed its primary mission, to return and photograph the planets it had visited . NASA compiled 60 images of this unique event into a mosaic of the solar system . A Voyager sent back images that were greater than Earth at 6.4 billion kilometers (more than 42 AU ) , just a "pale blue dot" in the grainy photo . The tiny point is almost lost in the glare of the sun.
At that time, the Pacific Ocean reinforced aspect Blue Earth, which was not the case a few hours later with the Africa and Asia.
The book
The book is divided into three parts. The first examines the claim made throughout history that Earth and humans are unique. The second part describes the scientific discoveries made through the solar system and the reasons commonly cited for the spaceflight. In the final part, Sagan suggests that the exploration and colonization of space and other worlds are essential for long-term survival of humankind and life on earth.
"Look again at this little point. It's here. This is our home. We do. In him is all those you love, everyone you know, all those you've heard, all human beings who ever lived. The entire sum of our joys and our sufferings, thousands of religious beliefs insured, ideologies and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and every loose every creator and destroyer of civilizations, all all the kings and peasants, all the young couples in love, all fathers and mothers, all children full of hope, inventors and explorers, all teachers of morals, every corrupt politicians, all the "superstars "every" supreme leader ", every saint and sinner in the history of our species have lived here on this speck of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
... There can be no better demonstration of the folly of human ideas than this distant image of our tiny world. For me, it underscores our responsibility to live more fraternally with each other, and to preserve and cherish that pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known. "
References
- (en) " A Pale Blue Dot "Big Sky Astronomy Club. Accessed April 2, 2006.
- (en) " Pale Blue Dot ", The Planetary Society. Accessed July 27, 2006.
- (en) " Pale Blue Dot "Product No. P7452, Sky Image Lab astrophotography. Accessed April 2, 2006.
- (en) Robert Roy Britt, " Pale Blue Dot " Space. com. Accessed April 2, 2006. Britt determine the distance to "more than 4 billion miles "(" more than 4 trillion miles).
- a and b (in) Sagan 1994 , chap. "You Are Here", p. 8-9 See also
Bibliography
- (En) Carl Sagan , Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space, Random House , New York, 1994, 1st ed., 429 p. ( ISBN 0-679-43841-6 )
Related articles
- The Ball Blue (The Blue Marble)
- Earth Rise (Earthrise)
External Links
- (In) Sagan's rationale for human spaceflight article about Carl Sagan and Pale Blue Dot
- (In) Spaceflight gold Extinction: Carl Sagan Pale Blue Dot Excerpts from
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