Lilla jorden sedd från Voyager 1

 

This may be one of the most important photographs in human history. It is a picture of our planet from a distance of 6 billion km, taken by the Voyager 1 probe in 1990. Later, inspired by this image, physicist Carl Sagan wrote:

"Look again at this dot. This is here. This is home. This is us. Everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you have ever heard of, every human being who has ever existed, lived out their lives on it. The multitude of our joys and sufferings, a thousand self-righteous religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and gatherer, every hero and coward, every builder and destroyer of civilizations, every king and peasant, every couple in love, every mother and father, every bright child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of ethics, every lying politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived here - on a speck of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage on a vast cosmic stage. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all these generals and emperors, so that, in glory and triumph, they might become the short-term masters of a fraction of a grain of sand. Think of the endless cruelties inflicted by the inhabitants of one corner of this dot on the barely distinguishable inhabitants of another corner. How often they disagree, how eager they are to kill each other, how hot their hatreds are.

Our posturing, our imagined importance, the illusion of our privileged status in the universe - all of them are worthless before this point of pale light. Our planet is but a lonely speck in the surrounding cosmic darkness. In this vast emptiness there is no hint that anyone will come to our aid, to save us from our ignorance.

The Earth is the only world known so far capable of supporting life. We have nowhere else to go - at least in the near future. To visit, yes. To colonize, not yet. Like it or not, the Earth is our home now.

"They say that astronomy instills humility and strengthens character. Perhaps there is no better demonstration of human conceit than this distant picture of our tiny world. I think it highlights our responsibility, our duty to be kinder to one another, to treasure and cherish the pale blue dot that is our only home."