창백한 푸른 점(Pale Blue Dot, Earth)

nasa
“Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us.” — Carl Sagan, "Pale Blue Dot," 1994⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Our Voyager 1 spacecraft took this iconic image of Earth 35 years ago. Voyager 1 was so far away — 3.7 billion miles (6 billion km) — from the Sun that, from its vantage point, Earth was just a point of light about a pixel in size. Truly a “Pale Blue Dot.”⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Mission managers commanded the spacecraft to look back toward home for a final time. It snapped a series of 60 images that were used to create the first “family portrait” of our solar system.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Carl Sagan was a prominent planetary scientist who was a consultant and adviser to NASA beginning in the 1950s. He also was a member of the Voyager Imaging Team. He had the original idea in 1981 to use the cameras on one of the two Voyager spacecraft to image Earth. He realized that because the spacecraft were so far away the images might not show much. This was precisely why Sagan and other members of the Voyager team felt the images were needed — they wanted humanity to see Earth’s vulnerability and that our home world is just a tiny, fragile speck in the cosmic ocean.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
After snapping the Pale Blue Dot and other “family photos,” Voyager 1 powered off its cameras forever to save its energy for the long journey ahead. In August 2012, Voyager 1 entered interstellar space. It’s now the most distant human-made object ever.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Image description: Earth is a single, bright blue pixel in the vastness of space. Rays of sunlight scattered within the camera optics stretch across the scene, one of which happens to have intersected dramatically with Earth. The original image was taken on Feb. 14, 1990. What you see here is an updated version from 2020 using modern image-processing software and techniques.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech⁣⁣
⁣⁣
#NASA #Earth #PaleBlueDot #Astrophotography #Voyager #Space #Perspective

---