1990 | NASA – Pale Blue Dot

This photo, dubbed the “Pale Blue Dot” by Carl Sagan, was taken in 1990 as the Voyager 1 spacecraft exited the solar system after a 12 year mission exploring its far reaches. Travelling at 64,000 km/h and at a record distance of 6 billion kilometres from Earth, the probe had completed its primary mission and was therefore at the disposal of NASA scientists when on Valentines Day 1990 Carl Sagan, one of the greatest scientists of all time who worked as an advisor to NASA, suggested that Voyager 1 be turned around to face Earth in order to get a photograph at this unimaginable distance.

The result is the photograph above which shows Earth as a minuscule dot in the centre of the brown band on the far right. The great thing about the photo is how it shows the true insignificance of the planet we call home. I think we need photos like this to remind us that we aren’t as important as we sometimes like to think we are on this tiny rock in the middle of nowhere.