The Overview Effect
Mysteries of Science
Fun Kids
4.6 • 681 Ratings
🗓️ 18 February 2022
⏱️ 19 minutes
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Summary
Astronauts who have been far enough to see Earth from the stars often come back expressing a very peculiar feeling. It has become such a phenomenon that it now has its own name: The Overview Effect.
Some get a feeling of interconnectedness while others get a feeling of awe. International Space Station astronaut Nicole Stott describes an overwhelming feeling of beauty.
Today, Michael and Dan investigate.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to Mysteries of Science. My name's Stevie and I'm the Deptie editor of Science in Nature, the monthly magazine from the team behind the Week Junior. |
| 0:09.5 | And I'm Michael, the junior editor. In each issue of science and nature, we explore the universe through in-depth features, new stories, or inspiring images, interviews with top experts and much, much more. |
| 0:20.7 | Yeah, and on this podcast, we're going to be taking a look at one of our favorite mysteries of science. or inspiring images, interviews with top experts and much, much more. |
| 0:24.8 | Yeah, and on this podcast, we're going to be taking a look at one of our favorite mysteries of science. These are the strange phenomena and bizarre events that have left scientists |
| 0:30.0 | scratching their heads and despite their best efforts, remain well and truly unsolved. |
| 0:35.7 | For today's mystery, we're going up into space, |
| 0:39.1 | not so that we can travel to another planet, |
| 0:41.1 | but rather to take a better look at our own. |
| 0:43.3 | Just imagine traveling into space |
| 0:45.3 | and taking a look out of the window to see planet Earth, |
| 0:48.6 | behind you in all its glory. |
| 0:51.1 | What do you think this would feel like? |
| 0:52.8 | Well, Stevie, I haven't been to space myself, |
| 0:55.2 | not yet anyway, but I imagine that from that distance the earth would probably project an air of |
| 1:00.6 | fragility. Wow, that's some profound stuff. It is, isn't it? But they aren't my word, Stevie, |
| 1:05.8 | but instead the words of another Michael, the astronaut Michael Collins, who flew aboard Apollo 11, the first |
| 1:11.8 | crewed mission to land on the moon. |
| 1:13.6 | Well, I did think it might be a little bit too a poetic for you, Michael. |
| 1:17.1 | Yes, well, Collins explained a powerful and peculiar feeling that came over him as he looked |
| 1:21.8 | out at the Earth from space, and he's not the only one. |
| 1:24.6 | In fact, so common is this feeling amongst astronauts that it's even been given its own name, |
| 1:28.8 | the overview effect. |
... |
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