Space and the Pale Blue Dot

[Infoproliferati]

What a small planet we live on. I was moved when I discovered the picture of Earth illuminated as a blue speck across the vastness of a solar system that doesn't even compare in seize to other systems in the wider universe. Voyager 1 took the picture in 1990 as it was about to leave the solar system at a distance of more than 6 billion km from Earth. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pale_Blue_Dot)

Space is so vast that light from stars millions of years away will not reach us during several hundred or thousand generations. And to think the star may not even exist by the time its rays get here.

Assume for a second that you had a magnifying glass so strong as to permit the visibility of a planet say 10,000 light years away. What you see at any given moment on that planet will be 10,000 years old.

The knowledge of space, however correct, wrong, inconsistent or conjecture based is sobering. The astrononmer, Carl Sagan described his feelings "Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. 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."

When I think of space, I can only acknowledge that God has a sense of humor. I believe in science and bioengineering. I believe in Einstein's theory of relativity (I don't understand it though), gravity and Max Planck's constant. But I don't believe in the Big Bang theory, even though the universe must be billions of years old.

What are your impressions of space, time and this pale blue dot?

[David G]

Thanks for posting that. Carl Sagan's passing at a relatively young age of 62 was really sad. His health declined so very quickly near the end. I recall watching him on ABCs Nightline in late 1996 and barely recognized him compared to a short time before. He is greatly missed as is his great intellect.

[Tia Wood]

What are your impressions of space, time and this pale blue dot?

That we would honestly be very silly to believe we are alone.

[Acro]

There's a picture of Uranus there too

[PRED]

your namesake got it right Theo

'Horton hears a who' ,is where we're at baby

we're here for a stitch in time. humanity.
or lack of humanity

[draggar]

This reminds me of Star Trek: First contact.

Is that Earth?

Yep.

It's so small.

It's about to get a whole lot bigger.