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Picture of Earth from Deep Space

bigskyastroclub.org — "We succeeded in taking that picture [from deep space], and, if you look at it, you see a dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever lived, lived out their lives." This was posted about 100 days ago, but I thought it deserved reposting.

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  • kutaone, on 10/12/2007, -3/+91It's amazing how important each one of us thinks we are...this really kind of puts into perspective how insignificant we are...
    • ldavid, on 10/12/2007, -4/+136**Diggs article and thinks about how insignificant his digg is worth**
    • itchye, on 10/12/2007, -168/+0More info on the topic: http://www.myspace.com/911falseflagop
    • radicaldementia, on 10/12/2007, -3/+109**Diggs article and then restores feelings of significance by looking at pictures of amoebas...puny little insignificant amoebas**
    • thejuicer, on 10/12/2007, -2/+102Mind numbing.
      Made me feel pretty insignificant as well
      but then I thought to myself:
      "Hey, at least I'm not a spamming douchebag like itchye"
    • Suits, on 10/12/2007, -4/+19You are here.
    • leobaby, on 10/12/2007, -12/+5I think the point of his talk was that it will take a visit from aliens to unite the people of Earth. and frankly I don't see it happening otherwise.
    • Chakz, on 10/12/2007, -10/+67Here's a higher res version:
      http://tinyurl.com/yzfy98
    • Kamill85, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Blow it up Lexx.
    • foobar5892, on 10/12/2007, -21/+4Those photos are terrificly unspectacular.
    • Dundasbro, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Everyone just block itchye already, doesn't that ban people?
    • billyswong, on 10/12/2007, -16/+4Chakz,

      You missed the fundamental point of this post.
    • Ramtech, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1its like we're living in a spectrum... i giant one...

      thats just incredible...
    • rbanffy, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11This pic definitely makes Earth feel more like a lifeboat than a planet.

      Watching the Cosmos series in my teens was a life-changing experience. I owe a lot to Carl Sagan.

      I am sure many of us do.
    • Zippo, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9It's not deep space until you've hit the Bajoran wormhole.
    • rumit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Watch this...
      http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3974466981713172831&sourceid=Himself
    • Pottersquash, on 10/12/2007, -4/+12@Zippo

      The Bajorans have no rightful claim to that Wormhole!!! It was discovered by Cardassian technology and is protected by a Cardassian station!!!! The Wormhole IS Cardassia!!! The Aliens of the Wormhole are Cardassia as well!!!

      YOU HAVE NO CLAIM!!!!
    • colinmhayes, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12don't panic
    • southport, on 10/12/2007, -11/+1Any amatuer philosopher could have formed kutaone's sentence.

      *yawn*
    • d17182, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4@thejuicer
      Well said. It's important to remember that, while we are all practically nothing in the universe, we are something to those we love and everything to those who love us. And while we are practically nothing, ***** spammers like itchye are just a bit more nothing.
    • RandomEngy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Yeah. "Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark." That line just gives me goosebumps.
    • KiaserLies, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1i aint space untill u see chewbacca
    • modernjazz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0On the other hand, I see 4 billion miles worth of empty space with presumably no human beings in all of it. Only on that one teeny spot amidst all of it do human beings live and breathe. That's how unique we are.
  • marksven, on 10/12/2007, -0/+19More pictures of Earth from afar here:
    http://www.spaceimages.com/earth.html
    http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2003/05/22/
    http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA05547
  • michaelb1, on 10/12/2007, -4/+54"We succeeded in taking that picture [from deep space], and, if you look at it, you see a dot. That's here. That's home. That's us.
    On it, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever lived, lived out their lives. The aggregate of all our joys and sufferings, thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilizations, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every hopeful child, every mother and father, every inventor and explorer, every 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. "
    • zforrester, on 10/12/2007, -2/+31I dugg this for that quote, not the pictures
  • michaelb1, on 10/12/2007, -2/+29Carl Sagan is my hero.
    • Twango, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Kind of puts kings in perspective.
    • warmonger48, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Carl Sagan, Issac Asimov, Einstien, Richard Dawkins, Benjamin Franklin, Da Vinci.

      I think they are/were all aliens....
  • Porkchoppa, on 10/12/2007, -3/+42home ---> .
    • oskite, on 10/12/2007, -18/+4You left out two dots, two zeros, a two, a seven, and two ones.
  • mutatron, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8That's kind of old. Here's a new one.

    http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap061016.html
  • Cleanlyness, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4oldie but a goodie
  • Farik, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15I originally saw the Pale Blue Dot as a YTMND http://palebluedot.ytmnd.com/
  • cw1925, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Just in case of a digg effect:
    http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/5936/pbdsmfn5.jpg
    http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/1192/pbdclosecc2.jpg
  • Spo8, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12This made the rounds a little while ago, as it's fairly old. Carl Sagan was more than a scientist, he was a philosopher. Truly one of the great minds of our time.
  • AustinLucas, on 10/12/2007, -15/+4wow thats really depressing
    • zephc, on 10/12/2007, -6/+9Why's that?
    • notregistering, on 10/12/2007, -6/+5I agree. Just imagine how much more mankind could have accomplished in its span on this planet if it only knew how infinitesimal any dominion really was.
    • Twango, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2It ain't how big it is ...
    • zephc, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Hmm too bad I was dugg down, I was going to draw AustinLucas into reexamining his point of view. Oh well.
    • Pottersquash, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2@notregistering

      Why is that? If we are but a speck, why would it matter? Realizing we are insignificant would not draw us to better things, it could lead us down a path to our destruction.

      Not everyone could handle not being the center of the universe, and those who could, could decide that since we are but a speck it mattered not what we do and bring chaos and destruction to our world.

      I see your point, and yes its a possibility but I think its just as likely that realizing how infinitesimal one's life is in the grand scheme could lead to LESS production not more
    • elhaf, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Could lead to more live organ transplants though.
  • ferretpants, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1I'm sad now
  • greymarketbrain, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5Thanks for posting that.
  • scojerroc, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15You ever look at a Picture of Earth from Deep Space... ... ... on weed?
  • Pobotrol, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4"Klytus, I'm bored. What plaything can you offer me today?"
  • broomett, on 10/12/2007, -12/+13This pic is from a little closer...

    http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q92/hunterdust/earth.jpg
    • ryansmith18, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1hahaha....thanks, that made my day.
  • Spo8, on 10/12/2007, -2/+28I just wish we could deliver those paragraphs to every person on the planet. I wish everyone could read those words at the exact same time and come to the realization that we're all in this together. Don't focus on the fact that our home is so unimaginably tiny, because we're here and that makes it significant. The point is that no matter what we look like or where we're from, we're human. After billions of years leading up to where we are now, we're actually in danger of destroying that. In danger of letting land, skin color, greed, or words in a very old book destroy the cosmic masterpiece that has been handed to us.

    • listrophy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I wish I could agree with your hopes.

      But last night I saw "Children of Men," and it had a very poignant scene at the climax. To avoid spoiling the movie for those who haven't seen it (see it!), I'll try to generalize... As Theo, Kee, and Bazooka walked past the tanks, nothing happened and then something happened.

      Again, I'm sorry for being so vague, but if you've seen the movie, you know what I mean. If you haven't, I don't think I've given very much away.
    • neolarthytep, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Wow..... Salqat what a idea... Then we would have no wars and therefore no population control and our planet would be over loaded with people in a 100 years time if not sooner. FACE IT HUMANS MUST KILL EACH OTHER WE HAVE NO OTHER PREDATOR BUT OURSELVES!!!!
    • elhaf, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Why's everyone keep saying how small the Earth is? I think it's ***** huge!
  • GrimRage, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4Al Gore used Sagan's quote and this picture in "An Inconvenient Truth". It really does make you feel insignificant...
  • twfurballs, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1I dugg this for the pics, not the quote - I grabbed the whole 13hr series off a torrent tracker, its leet - yya'll should read the book too
  • JimDinger, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Kinda brought everyone to reality for a bit didnt it? I know it did me.
    • elhaf, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yeah, me too. I better get back to work and shuffle some more bits around on my hard drive.
  • Urusai, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5Remember that that pale blue dot is the only (known) dot in the entire universe that has beheld itself. There's more to importance than dimensions.
    • rpj101288, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I wish I could digg you up more than once for saying that. As far as we know, we are the only speck of dust that has somehow perceived itself. We have made ourselves unique in the known universe.
  • muikano, on 10/12/2007, -5/+6Some ppl are linking to bigger pictures. That's not the point. The whole point of the picture is to show the smallness of Earth. How conceited is man to think they are important. How the everyday desires and happenings are really nothing put against the vastness of space.

    Why do you want to own all of Earth when there is a Universe to be had? Why are the Israelites and the Palestinians killing each other over the Holy Land? It may as well be a Holy Dust Mote in the great and grand scheme of things.

    That blurry picture of an insignificant dust mote is perspective and ridicules human myopia.
    We should be spending money on space travel and colonization. ***** the Holy Land. My God doesn't care about a thin strip of arid land. He sees the Big Picture. He's not a douchebag.
    • g3r4, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Wow, that leads me to think that you think someone else's god IS a douchebag. And its that kinda ***** that starts wars and prevents us from going beyond our own planet. So just shut the ***** up.
    • junk, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7Most gods *are* douchebags though. Always going around getting all high and mighty, smiting stuff and talking like that announcer dude from the movie trailers about "You shall not do this, you shall do not that" ... phooey!
    • Pottersquash, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6@muikano

      Your right!!! feuding over the earth when we could claim the entire universe COLONIZE MARS NOW!!!

      @junk

      Most gods don't smite actually. Its rather unkempt...

      And whats wrong with a god giving advice??? You have free will, do what you like, don't get so upset cause god had some recommedations god thought you should implement. Thou shall not do this, for I think its a really bad idea. Thou shall do this for it is very cool. This upsets you????

      Tell me, do you curse Netflix when it shows you movies you might like?
  • Velireon, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3Despite being old, its power continues to move many, including myself. More than any other one person (outside my family), Carl Sagan has been my greatest inspiration. He, along with his Pale Blue Dot (i.e., the quote above), and this photo helped make me into the person I am today.

    With members of our species killing each other with great abandon even as I type, I would have you note the spirit of Dr. Sagan's message. Frequently characterized by peddlers of religious orthodoxy as the quintessential demon for his inconveniently logical atheism and nonreligious (yet very real) spirituality, Carl Sagan's message -- and this photo -- manage to impart to me more hope than any of the world's religions, which still lead daily to great death and unmeasurable pain.
    • gojeda, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2This photo, in and of itself, does nothing to address the existence or non-existence of God. So please, ***** off with the trolling.
  • apothekari, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Whenever Life gets you down Ms Brown
    And things seem hard or tough
    And people are stupid, obnoxious or Daft
    And you feel that you've had quite enooooooouuuuuugh.

    Just remember that you're standing
    On a planet that's evolving
    And revolving at 900 miles an hour
    It's orbiting at 90 miles a second
    So it's reckoned
    A Sun that is the source of all our power...

    Eric Idle MPFC
    ftw

    • exsst, on 10/12/2007, -10/+1I have nothing against you, but please, lay off the "***** the what" it makes no sense at all.
  • sleepandtvgood, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Wow, the oddity of space...

    "Ground control to major Tom."
  • lysdexia, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4The importance of spirit and presence is far beyond our physical dimension - even that of Sagans. Not that we aren't guilty of all the horrors outlined in the text, but the world is a better place for billions than it was one hundred years ago and human endeavour will always strive to make further inroads into the problems we face.

    Chin up!
    • PaulLev, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Agreed - and the very fact that we can talk about this here is evidence of that.
  • askegg, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10It must be said - "Mostly harmless"
  • Karmalary, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Here's another cool shot of Earth, from the far side of Saturn. Earth is the tiny dot just above the rings. http://ciclops.org/view_media.php?id=12499
  • bkraft, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Thanks for this digg. It's pretty moving to see just how small the stage where all of human history has been played out is.
  • gabrielg01, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2Absolutely fantastic!...it also explains why we have to kill all religious psychos on Earth. These shortsighted morons would destroy our tiny civilization "in the name of God". God help us!
  • pcgeek101, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4"the Earth was captured as a infinitesimal point of light (between the two white tick marks), actually smaller than a single pixel of the photo"

    Right, cuz if it was smaller than a pixel, then it wouldn't show up at all.
    • ChrisGranger, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I'm sure someone with more technical knowledge will explain it in detail, but something smaller than a pixel can show up in a photo as simply a dimmer pixel. Obviously it's no smaller than pixel-sized on the screen image, but the Earth was smaller than the resolution/pixel the camera was capable of.
    • Mazzaroth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1wrong.

      A sub-pixel object can be captured but it will contribute to the signal of just one pixel (in absence of speading mechanism like atmospheric turbulence for example, in which case, it may spread on multiple pixels.)
  • Wonderkind, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I feel so much better now.
  • GLSmyth, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3No comment here needed, the image speaks for itself.
  • TherealObadiah, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1How very sad to read of Sagan's comments. While the picture of earth from deep space clearly provides much of the perspective Sagan so aptly noted, yet Sagan's comments are completely void of any acknowledgment of our Creator, the One who hung the Earth, all the stars, in place. It is He who created us, cares for us, and has a future hope for each of us. Without this perspective it is easy to see why Sagan comments teeter on the despondent. I look forward to exploring and knowing the universe with my Creator upon my passing this world!
  • Pottersquash, on 10/12/2007, -6/+5Am I the only one who finds it ironic that essentially, they could have took any photo of colors, point to a bluish pixel said "Look its earth" and everyone would be waxing philosophical at the underlying message, and the same people who do that are probably the same people who believe that every moment of every day the government is lying about something in order to get us to believe something?
  • ThisIsBob, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9And the Dude who created all of that is concerned that bipeds on that dot eat pork?
    • Pottersquash, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Its one of his many concerns yes, just like people who play Sims are concerned that thier character clothes arent flatteirng. There only concern? No, there greatest concern? Hardly, A concern? Sure.
    • purplemonkey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Huh? I don't think God cares what we eat. As long as it's not each other. :) So...eat your pork. Or don't eat your pork. It's your choice.
  • Azzere, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4That's awesome. It's hard to believe that's really the earth.
    The one question that's still on my mind though.
    Is "If we are always expanding, what are we expanding into?"
  • freal, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1thats not taken from "deep space"
    the edge of our solar system is hardly deep space.
    thats exaggeration and misleading
  • robertgoodwin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4For anyone who's interested, this image and the quote from Carl Sagan are available on a poster from the Planetary Society: http://planetarysociety.stores.yahoo.net/planetary-store-326.html
  • jedikv, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1i can see my house from here.
    • mutatron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I think... I think I can see Fort Worth!
  • hectavex, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8From wikipedia:

    Carl Sagan was an avid user of marijuana, although he never admitted this publicly during his life. Under the pseudonym "Mr. X", he wrote an essay concerning cannabis smoking in the 1971 book Marihuana Reconsidered, whose editor was Lester Grinspoon.[7] In his essay, Sagan commented that marijuana encouraged some of his works and enhanced experiences.

    This just made me think back to the marijuana topics here on digg with all the blanket statements on how pot makes you stupid and lazy.
    • wyattearp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2so ... are you suggesting random digg-drug screening? sounds good to me. i could see half or more the idiots disappear and not care.
  • adiosk8, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"honey I swear it used to be bigger then this, honest!"
  • jake8689, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1oooooooooo.......ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
  • clubmasta2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1And we think we're the only living things in the universe? Seriously, if that's what a planet full of life looks like there could be millions like us.
    • Humm1977, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Then again there might not. Who really knows how common intelligent life is? SETI hasn't contacted any yet (look up the Fermi paradox).

      I think intelligent life is very rare, and if so then yes that may be a picture of a small dot - but is very remarkable dot indeed!
    • EsmeTrue, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yes I think Intelligent life is extremely rare, we get evidence of that everyday here on Earth.
    • jedikv, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@EsmueTrue

      "Yes I think Intelligent life is extremely rare, we get evidence of that everyday here on Earth."

      such as digg
  • Essefgy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I swear this was already submitted a couple weeks ago...but I'm digging it again anyway
  • patc6, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Everyone of us live in 3-5 foot bubbles. Most of us cannot see past our noses, but every once in a while something enables us to see the truth about ourselves. That images is one of the truths.
  • subtle, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1OK, so the blue dot is the Earth. But what's that red dot in the upper right? Oh yeah, that's the stuck pixel on my screen that http://www.jscreenfix.com/ failed to fix!
    • mediaprone, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Dugg up becasue you made a funny.
  • Salgat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I hate when people associate "size" with "importance."
  • ajck, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2And people still hold the unbelievably antiquated view that we're alone in the universe. What, is the Earth flat for you too?

    The universe is TEEMING with life. Yes, intelligent, humanoid life.

    How future generations are going to pity our ignorance and arrogance....
    • Salgat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Its cute that you assume things and make statements how future generations will "pity us", the generation that brung about the revolutionary technology that dramatically changed this world. Does life existout there? Probably. Does Intelligent Humanoid life exist out there? Thats just a close-minded assumption that the only thing intelligent aliens can be is something similar to Earth's creatures.
  • tdp05, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I want to digg this twice.
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