Wonders of the Universe - Brian Cox [101]
This colour image of the Earth, named the ‘Pale Blue Dot’, is a part of the first-ever portrait of the Solar System taken by NASA’s Voyager 1. The spacecraft took 60 frames which could be used to create a mosaic image of the Solar System from a distance of over four billion miles from Earth.
NASA
This seemingly insignificant image of a pale blue dot is in fact one of the most important and beautiful images ever taken, revealing our planet at a distance of over six billion kilometres away.
I believe it is only by looking out to the heavens, by continuing our exploration of the cosmos and the rules that govern it, and by allowing our curiosity free reign to wander the limitless natural world, that we can understand ourselves and our true significance within this Universe of wonders.
In 1977, a space probe called Voyager 1 was launched on a ‘grand tour’ of the Solar System. It visited the great gas giant planets Jupiter and Saturn and made wonderful discoveries before heading off into interstellar space. Thirteen years later, after its mission was almost over, Voyager turned its cameras around and took one last picture of its home. This picture (left) is known as the Pale Blue Dot. The beautiful thing, perhaps the most beautiful thing ever photographed, is the single pixel of light at its centre; because that pixel, that point, is our planet, Earth. At a distance of over six billion kilometres (3.7 billion miles) away, this is the most distant picture of our planet that has ever been taken.
The powerful and moving thing about this tiny, tiny point of light is that every living thing that we know of that has ever existed in the history of the Universe has lived out its life on that pixel, on a pale blue dot hanging against the blackness of space.
As the great astronomer Carl Sagan wrote:
‘It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.’
Just as we, and all life on Earth, stand on this tiny speck adrift in infinite space, so life in the Universe will only exist for a fleeting, dazzling instant in infinite time, because life, just like the stars, is a temporary structure on the long road from order to disorder.
But that doesn’t make us insignificant, because life is the means by which the Universe can understand itself, if only for an instant. This is what we’ve done in our brief moments on Earth: we have sent space probes to the edge of our solar system and beyond; we have built telescopes that can glimpse the oldest and most distant stars, and we have discovered and understood at least some of the natural laws that govern the cosmos. This, ultimately, is why I believe we are important. Our true significance lies in our continuing desire to understand and explore this beautiful Universe – our magnificent, beautiful, fleeting home
Our time on Earth is precious and fleeting. The most important use of this time that we can make is to ask questions about our wonderful universe, so that perhaps one day one of our descendants will truly understand the natural laws that govern our cosmos.
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‘Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known’
—Carl Sagan, 1934–1996
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Entries in italics indicate photographs and images
A
Abell 2218 (cluster of galaxies) 190, 191
AD 185 (supernova) 83
Aldrin, Buzz 96 al-Haytham, Ibn 56
Alpha Centauri (star) 45, 98
Alpha Orionis (Betelgeuse) 120, 120, 121, 121, 123, 130, 130, 131, 131, 133
Altair (star) 230, 231, 231
Ampère, André-Marie 36, 37
Ampère’s Law 36
Amun-Re 17, 18
Anders, William