Earth: A pale blue dot in the universe

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 1 January 2024

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In February 1990, Nasa space probe Voyager took a famous photo of Earth as it left the Solar System.

Seen from six billion kilometres away, our planet appears as a mere dot lit up by the sun, giving a sense of humanity's small place in the universe.

In 2020, Darryl Morris spoke to Nasa planetary scientist Candice Hansen, who worked on the Voyager programme. A Made in Manchester production for BBC World Service.

(Photo: Earth - a pale blue dot. Credit: Nasa/JPL-Caltech)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Does talking to strangers make you happier?
0:04.4	Could aging disgracefully help you live longer?
0:07.8	I'm Dr. Michael Mosley and in my Just One Long Thing podcast series I'll be chatting to doctors and scientists
0:15.1	we'll be covering topics like sleep exercise happiness and staying young with each
0:20.6	of our experts choosing a health hack they claim is the single most effective way you can improve your life.
0:27.0	Just one long thing. Listen first on BBC Sounds. You're listening to the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service.
0:41.6	On the 14th of November 1990, a probe billions of miles away in space took a photo of Earth
0:49.1	that brought home to us our standing in the universe. In 2020, Darrell Morris spoke to planetary scientist
0:56.2	Candies Hansen about the picture known around the world as the pale blue dot.
1:01.7	I had chills running up and down my back.
1:05.0	It looked so tiny and so fragile
1:08.0	and yet so special in that ray of scattered light.
1:12.0	It just it just
1:13.1	it just chills up and down my spine. The Voyager 1 probe and its twin
1:16.9	Voyager 2 were built by NASA to explore the outer planets of our solar
1:21.5	system. Candies Hansen was part of the team of scientists
1:24.9	that controlled and analysed the cameras on board the probes.
1:29.2	Discoveries, every day almost it felt like we were discovering something new.
1:35.0	Volcanoes on I.
1:36.0	We found a battered surface of Callisto.
1:39.0	We didn't know those things before we got there.
1:42.0	And when we left, those places had names.
	...

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