Mitch Cronin Posted October 3, 2008 Share Posted October 3, 2008 Here's an APOD image of Saturn taken from within it's shadow (Saturn has eclipsed the Sun) by the Cassini spacecraft (from an APOD of Oct. 16, 2006)... The tiny little dot to the left of Saturn, just outside the brightest rings there.... That's us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Cronin Posted October 3, 2008 Author Share Posted October 3, 2008 From Carl Sagan's "Pale Blue Dot" speech: "On that dot everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human-being who ever lived, lived out their lives. The aggregate of all our joy and suffering thousands of confident and mutually exclusive 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, every hopeful child, every inventor and explorer, every revered teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every superstar, every supreme leader, every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. The earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Innuendo Posted October 3, 2008 Share Posted October 3, 2008 Sagan's piece is certainly thought provoking stuff Mitch. I can imagine the Astronauts that saw Earth from as far away as the moon feeling the same way. I am a bit puzzled by the image though, is the orb on the rings a loupe to give an enlarged view? I have not gone through the site to see if there is any comment on the image but if you have found anything on it I would be curious to hear it. Great site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Cronin Posted October 3, 2008 Author Share Posted October 3, 2008 Sorry, I should have linked to the page with the explanation of the photo... The large orb is Saturn itself looking rather odd because of being so backlit... Here's the direct link: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap061016.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Specs Posted October 3, 2008 Share Posted October 3, 2008 Very strange. Why is it every time you post one of these space photos all I can think of is a scantily clad woman? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moon The Loon Posted October 3, 2008 Share Posted October 3, 2008 Very strange. Why is it every time you post one of these space photos all I can think of is a scantily clad woman? Guess that would make you a Whiz on the Rorschach tests! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deicer Posted October 3, 2008 Share Posted October 3, 2008 Thank you Mitch for the beautiful distraction from all the rest of the unsightly things going around these days. Iceman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gumbi Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 Stuff like that always reminds me of a presentation we attended at the Dow Planetarium in Montreal. At one point, the presentator mentionned "Before you step on that (insert favorite critter/insect name), look up in the sky, over your head, and see if there's a bigger foot coming down on you...". I always try to remind myself that some of the stars we still see at night have long disappeared... We only have 40 years, or so, of productive life on this universally tiny grain of sand we call earth, and we try to change everything. Thanks for giving me the time to think about that again, Mitch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
planett Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 Mitch, I hold Carl Sagan responsible for my lifelong fascination with science, technology, and aviation. I see his legacy as I glance over my shoulder at my decades old physics, chemistry, and, geology textbooks. I've recently aquired Cosmos DVD's, and I appreciate different things about the series now than I did in 1981. He had an admiration for all the scientists and explorers before him, in particular, the ones who had the courage to press on when their discoveries conflicted with the conventional wisdom of the time. For them this somtimes meant ridicule, exile, or death. We owe much to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.