NASA Releases Remastered ‘Pale Blue Dot’ Image

On February 14, 1990, cameras of NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft pointed back toward the Sun and snapped a series of pictures of the Sun, Earth and other planets, making the first ever ‘Family Portrait of the Solar System’ as seen from the outside. One of those images, the picture of Earth, is now known as the ‘Pale Blue Dot.’ For the 30th anniversary of the famous photo, researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory have released an updated version of the ‘Pale Blue Dot.’

This updated version of the iconic ‘Pale Blue Dot’ image taken by NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft uses modern image-processing software and techniques to revisit the well-known Voyager view while attempting to respect the original data and intent of those who planned the images. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

This updated version of the iconic ‘Pale Blue Dot’ image taken by NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft uses modern image-processing software and techniques to revisit the well-known Voyager view while attempting to respect the original data and intent of those who planned the images. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

In 1990, the Voyager team planned to shut off the Voyager 1 spacecraft’s imaging cameras to conserve power and because the probe, along with its sibling Voyager 2, would not fly close enough to any other objects to take pictures.

Before the shutdown, the team members decided to command the probe to take a series of 60 images designed to produce what they termed the ‘Family Portrait of the Solar System.’

On Valentine’s Day 1990, Voyager 1 was 40 AU (astronomical units) from the Sun when mission managers commanded it to snap images of the worlds it was leaving behind on its journey into interstellar space.

Voyager 1 captured Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter, Earth and Venus.

A few key members didn’t make the shot. Mars was obscured by scattered sunlight bouncing around in the camera.

Mercury was too close to the Sun and the dwarf planet Pluto was too tiny, too far away and too dark to be detected.

But the images gave humans an awe-inspiring and unprecedented view of our home world and its neighbors.

One of those images, the picture of Earth, would become known as the ‘Pale Blue Dot.’

The unique view of Earth as a tiny speck in the cosmos inspired the title of scientist Carl Sagan’s book ‘Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space.’

He wrote in his book: “That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives…

There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world.”

To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the ‘Family Portrait of the Solar System’ and the ‘Pale Blue Dot’ image in particular, NASA released a new version of the unique view of Earth.

The updated image uses modern image-processing software and techniques while respecting the intent of those who planned the image.

Like the original, the new color view shows Earth as 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.

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