"Our planet is - a lonely speck in the infinite darkness of space ..." Bashny.Net

A delightful, light-filled with sadness and appeasement of the words of Carl Sagan Zemle.Pale Blue Dot (Eng .: "pale blue dot") - a famous photograph of planet Earth made probe "Voyager 1" with a record distance, showing it to the background of the cosmos. The idea to take a picture and the name was suggested by Carl Sagan, who also wrote the book of the same name in 1994.





In a speech on May 11, 1996 Sagan shared his thoughts on the meaning of this picture. The site publishes this shrill stunning text.



"Look again at that point. It's here. This is our house. This is us. All the people you love, everyone you know, all of whom you've ever heard, everything ever existed people have lived their lives on it. Many of our enjoyment and suffering, thousands of self-confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and collector, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every enamored couple, every mother and father, each capable child inventor and explorer, every teacher of ethics, each lying politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there - on a mote, suspended in a sunbeam.

Land - a very small stage in the vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of the sand grains. Think of the endless cruelties committed by the inhabitants of one corner of this point of barely distinguishable inhabitants of the other corner. About how often differences between them, how eager they are to kill one another, how hot their hatred.

Our posturing, our imagined importance, the illusion of our privileged status in the universe - they all succumb to this point of pale light. Our planet - a lonely speck in the darkness of the surrounding space. In this enormous emptiness no hint that someone will come to our aid in order to save us from our own ignorance.

Land - is the only known the world capable of sustaining life. We have nowhere else to go - at least in the near future. To visit - yes. Colonize - yet. Whether you like it or not - the earth is now our home.

They say, astronomy instills humility and strengthens character. Perhaps there is no better demonstration of silly human conceit than this detached picture of our tiny world. I think it underscores our responsibility, our duty to be kinder to each other, to keep and cherish the pale blue dot - our only home. »

via factroom.ru