Original artwork, not a still
Pale Blue Dot • 1994
Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us.
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
A smudge of light becomes the most persuasive argument for looking after one planet. The passage turns astronomy into ethics: every war, empire and love affair played out on a pixel. It is read aloud at space events and set to music and video, and people quote its humbling lines who have never seen the photograph.
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In context
Spoilers for Pale Blue DotShow the scene
On 14 February 1990 Voyager 1, about 6 billion kilometres from home, turned its camera back and photographed the planets in a Family Portrait series. Earth shows up as a speck inside a band of scattered sunlight. Sagan had pushed NASA to take the picture, and in his 1994 book Pale Blue Dot he used it to ask readers to think about everyone who ever lived on that dot. The printed text actually reads 'Consider again that dot'; the 'Look again at that dot' wording is how the passage is usually quoted.
Sources (2)
- Wikipedia: Pale Blue DotLead, Photograph and Reflections sectionsReference checked
- Wikiquote: Carl SaganPale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space (1994)Reference checked
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