by adam winnik
thanks, julia.
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Showing posts with label pale blue dot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pale blue dot. Show all posts
pale blue solstice
like it? click it!
embiggen
this time of year i have mixed feelings -- a sense of cold anxiety and loss but also of anticipation for the possibilities ahead. a pale blue dot helps me keep things in perspective.
that's here, that's home, that's us.
- carl sagan (november 9, 1934 - december 20, 1996)
happy holidays to all.
this is an ornament against christmas lights with star-shaped bokeh.
relevant sets: pale blue dot | carl sagan | custom shaped bokeh
©2010 helen sotiriadis
the center of all things
an homage to carl sagan's pale blue dot.
'if we long for our planet to be important, there is something we can do about it. we can make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers.'
-carl sagan, cosmos
more pale blue dot
thanks, julia.
'if we long for our planet to be important, there is something we can do about it. we can make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers.'
-carl sagan, cosmos
more pale blue dot
thanks, julia.
carl sagan: a universe not made for us
an excerpt from pale blue dot: a vision of the human future in space, with beautiful imagery from stephen hawking's into the universe and brian cox's wonders of the solar system.
my advice: view full-screen.
my advice: view full-screen.
via RDF
pale blue home
the view from the road leading to falasarna, and the title, a reference to pale blue dot:
like it? click it!
i've placed this on flickr's map.
i read this this morning and it's had a terrible effect on me. it's one thing to have my personal suspicions, and quite another to see someone with serious credentials state them so publicly.
often, i feel like i'm watching a film documentary about what happened to those beings called humans who knew where they were headed, but did nothing to save themselves.
like it? click it!
i've placed this on flickr's map.
i read this this morning and it's had a terrible effect on me. it's one thing to have my personal suspicions, and quite another to see someone with serious credentials state them so publicly.
often, i feel like i'm watching a film documentary about what happened to those beings called humans who knew where they were headed, but did nothing to save themselves.
i posted a link on facebook...
anthony ayiomamitis said, it seems rather optimistic we will be gone so quickly. really a flash.
and scott said, a fate we don't exactly not deserve. ;-) i'm sure the dolphins will be glad to "get their life back."
ken suggested i watch earth 2100.
life is ubiquitous and tenacious on earth -- extremophiles have been found in the most hostile of places -- and it most probably will continue on, oblivious to our presence... or lack of it. some might say that it doesn't matter whether we're here or not... but that's not true. as carl sagan said, we are a way for the cosmos to know itself.
notice he said a way and not the way -- maybe one way of many populations of sentient beings, somewhere...
anyway, i'm all over the place with this.
here's carl, reading from pale blue dot:
and yet again, i offer das rad:
more of my images dedicated to pale blue dot.
©2010 toomanytribbles
anthony ayiomamitis said, it seems rather optimistic we will be gone so quickly. really a flash.
and scott said, a fate we don't exactly not deserve. ;-) i'm sure the dolphins will be glad to "get their life back."
ken suggested i watch earth 2100.
life is ubiquitous and tenacious on earth -- extremophiles have been found in the most hostile of places -- and it most probably will continue on, oblivious to our presence... or lack of it. some might say that it doesn't matter whether we're here or not... but that's not true. as carl sagan said, we are a way for the cosmos to know itself.
notice he said a way and not the way -- maybe one way of many populations of sentient beings, somewhere...
anyway, i'm all over the place with this.
here's carl, reading from pale blue dot:
and yet again, i offer das rad:
more of my images dedicated to pale blue dot.
©2010 toomanytribbles
NASA's blue marble
from the goddard photo and video blog flickr page:
click pic to source
from the description:
'this spectacular “blue marble” image is the most detailed true-color image of the entire earth to date. using a collection of satellite-based observations, scientists and visualizers stitched together months of observations of the land surface, oceans, sea ice, and clouds into a seamless, true-color mosaic of every square kilometer (.386 square mile) of our planet. these images are freely available to educators, scientists, museums, and the public. this record includes preview images and links to full resolution versions up to 21,600 pixels across.'
click pic to source
from the description:
'this spectacular “blue marble” image is the most detailed true-color image of the entire earth to date. using a collection of satellite-based observations, scientists and visualizers stitched together months of observations of the land surface, oceans, sea ice, and clouds into a seamless, true-color mosaic of every square kilometer (.386 square mile) of our planet. these images are freely available to educators, scientists, museums, and the public. this record includes preview images and links to full resolution versions up to 21,600 pixels across.'
a pale blue valentine
like it? click it!
part 1:
carl sagan championed it but not everyone wanted to risk it. the sun might have burned the sensitive instruments on voyager 1. to get into a better position, it was delayed for five years. but finally, voyager's camera turned from its position ahead, back to take a picture of us.
one of the most important pictures humanity has taken: the pale blue dot, shot twenty years ago today, on february 14, 1990.
a valentine, from us, to us.
where are we? look at it carefully:
click pic to source on NASA
see it? a few pale blue pixels... over there -- to the right?
there we are!
'suspended in a sunbeam.'
well, not quite... that is an accident on voyager's optics.
'look again at that dot. that's here, that's home, that's us. on it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. the aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
the earth is a very small stage in a 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 a fraction of a dot. think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.
our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. in our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
the earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. there is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. visit, yes. settle, not yet. like it or not, for the moment the earth is where we make our stand.
it has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. there is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. to me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.' - the eloquence of carl sagan
part 2:
in november of last year, i linked to an interview of ann druyan on radiolab.
on friday, NPR published not one -- but two -- articles on the pale blue dot, voyager and a cosmic love story -- the one in how ann druyan and carl sagan fell in love while they were working on 'the ultimate mix tape', the sounds of earth to be carried by the voyagers on a golden record.
both articles contain an excerpt of the interview... with a transcript.
here's an excerpt of the excerpt:
'so i called carl, who was traveling. and we had been alone many times during the making of the record, and as friends for three years. and we'd had these wonderful, soaring conversations, but we had been both been completely just professional about everything and as friends. and he wasnt there. left a message. hour later, the phone rings, pick up the phone, and i hear this wonderful voice. and he said, i get back to my hotel room and i find this message, and it says annie called. and i say to myself - why didnt you leave me this message 10 years ago.
and my heart completely skipped a beat. i can still remember it so perfectly. and i said, for keeps? and he said you mean get married? and i said yes. and we had never kissed. wed never, you know, had any kind of personal discussions before. we both hung up the phone and i just screamed out loud. i remember it so well, because there was this great eureka moment. and then the phone rang and i was thinking oh, you know, i - and the phone rang, and it was carl, and he's like, just want to make sure that really happened. were getting married, right?' - annie druyan
what a story.
this wasn't fate... and i don't believe in soulmates. both ideas devalue an extaordinary experience.
no... this was two highly perceptive people who found themselves by chance at the same point in space and time, who recognized extraordinary qualities in each other, had the courage to express their thoughts and the strength to hold onto their love.
more images of us:where are we? look at it carefully:
click pic to source on NASA
see it? a few pale blue pixels... over there -- to the right?
there we are!
'suspended in a sunbeam.'
well, not quite... that is an accident on voyager's optics.
'look again at that dot. that's here, that's home, that's us. on it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. the aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
the earth is a very small stage in a 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 a fraction of a dot. think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.
our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. in our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
the earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. there is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. visit, yes. settle, not yet. like it or not, for the moment the earth is where we make our stand.
it has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. there is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. to me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.' - the eloquence of carl sagan
in november of last year, i linked to an interview of ann druyan on radiolab.
on friday, NPR published not one -- but two -- articles on the pale blue dot, voyager and a cosmic love story -- the one in how ann druyan and carl sagan fell in love while they were working on 'the ultimate mix tape', the sounds of earth to be carried by the voyagers on a golden record.
both articles contain an excerpt of the interview... with a transcript.
here's an excerpt of the excerpt:
'so i called carl, who was traveling. and we had been alone many times during the making of the record, and as friends for three years. and we'd had these wonderful, soaring conversations, but we had been both been completely just professional about everything and as friends. and he wasnt there. left a message. hour later, the phone rings, pick up the phone, and i hear this wonderful voice. and he said, i get back to my hotel room and i find this message, and it says annie called. and i say to myself - why didnt you leave me this message 10 years ago.
and my heart completely skipped a beat. i can still remember it so perfectly. and i said, for keeps? and he said you mean get married? and i said yes. and we had never kissed. wed never, you know, had any kind of personal discussions before. we both hung up the phone and i just screamed out loud. i remember it so well, because there was this great eureka moment. and then the phone rang and i was thinking oh, you know, i - and the phone rang, and it was carl, and he's like, just want to make sure that really happened. were getting married, right?' - annie druyan
what a story.
this wasn't fate... and i don't believe in soulmates. both ideas devalue an extaordinary experience.
no... this was two highly perceptive people who found themselves by chance at the same point in space and time, who recognized extraordinary qualities in each other, had the courage to express their thoughts and the strength to hold onto their love.
clickable
the only home we've ever known
a beautiful pale blue dot inspired video:
the sound could be improved, but it's still very cool.
via pharyngula.
more pale blue dot inspired videos at my dedicated label.
the sound could be improved, but it's still very cool.
via pharyngula.
more pale blue dot inspired videos at my dedicated label.
fluff
these days, i've been listening to carl sagan's a pale blue dot: a vision of the human future in space while driving ... it's a new kick i have of listening to favorite books, helping me to deal with unbearably long drives through heavy traffic and being inspired along the way.
today i reached chapter six: the triumph of voyager. it's fascinating to hear about the life of these two robots, their discoveries and technical problems... and sagan's hope that we would continue receiving information for a long, long time.
over twenty years later, the voyagers are still making profound discoveries and, when i saw the following article about 'fluff', i felt that two moments -- when sagan first wrote this chapter, and this news -- come together, as if time were warped and the two moments touched.
click pic to source
'december 23, 2009: the solar system is passing through an interstellar cloud that physics says should not exist. in the dec. 24th issue of nature, a team of scientists reveal how NASA's voyager spacecraft have solved the mystery.
"using data from voyager, we have discovered a strong magnetic field just outside the solar system," explains lead author merav opher, a NASA heliophysics guest investigator from george mason university. "this magnetic field holds the interstellar cloud together and solves the long-standing puzzle of how it can exist at all."'
and
'NASA's two voyager probes have been racing out of the solar system for more than 30 years. they are now beyond the orbit of pluto and on the verge of entering interstellar space—but they are not there yet.'
... more at at NASA...
today i reached chapter six: the triumph of voyager. it's fascinating to hear about the life of these two robots, their discoveries and technical problems... and sagan's hope that we would continue receiving information for a long, long time.
over twenty years later, the voyagers are still making profound discoveries and, when i saw the following article about 'fluff', i felt that two moments -- when sagan first wrote this chapter, and this news -- come together, as if time were warped and the two moments touched.
click pic to source
'december 23, 2009: the solar system is passing through an interstellar cloud that physics says should not exist. in the dec. 24th issue of nature, a team of scientists reveal how NASA's voyager spacecraft have solved the mystery.
"using data from voyager, we have discovered a strong magnetic field just outside the solar system," explains lead author merav opher, a NASA heliophysics guest investigator from george mason university. "this magnetic field holds the interstellar cloud together and solves the long-standing puzzle of how it can exist at all."'
and
'NASA's two voyager probes have been racing out of the solar system for more than 30 years. they are now beyond the orbit of pluto and on the verge of entering interstellar space—but they are not there yet.'
... more at at NASA...
we are here: a pale blue dot
i don't remember if i've posted this before. i probably have. but if you haven't seen it, you must:
another pale blue dot: a repost
like it? click it!
in memory of carl sagan.
please read my two posts: a pale blue dot and 12 years: carl sagan's hopeful legacy
EDIT: i originally posted this on december 20, 2008, in memory of the day we lost carl sagan... but darknlooking's pale blue dot video is 5000 views short of a million -- and i believe that everyone should see this at least once.
please pass the video on.
pale blue dandy
like it? give it a click!
there was an interesting article yesterday by trey ratcliffe, a photographer whose work got me started with HDR a year ago, and who has had the honor of having the first HDR image displayed by the smithsonian institution, about his submission this year being disqualified because it was digitally enhanced.
i can understand having a separate category for digitally altered images -- those that change the original content of the picture.
my opinion on this is that digital photography is, by definition, digitally enhanced and that a pixel has a long journey from RAW file to JPG.
to start with, various makes of cameras create different types of RAW, and RAW is subsequently converted differently by varying types of software.
it's up to the photographer's discretion whether he/she wants the image straight out of the camera or tweaked here and there -- or processed greatly -- in order to convey thoughts, emotions, or even to more accurately convey what the human eye saw at the time, which is often way more than a camera can possibly grab.
there's nothing inherently superior or inferior to an image that's SOOC and it says little about the skill of the photographer.
color enhancement is not the same as color replacement or adding / subtracting elements to a picture -- and there certainly is a difference in requirements between photo journalism, and photo art / personal expression.
so someone will have to show me one digital image that was not effected by software.
additionally, i'd like to see one film image that was not a result of decisions in the darkroom by burning, dodging, by choice of paper, etc., etc., etc.
finally, what is more important -- what a piece of equipment sees -- or what the photographer wants to show?
more reading here, here and here.
the above file was taken by a canon 40D camera in RAW (CR2) format. i then decided to change the white balance to fluorescent (thus the blue tinge) and sharpened up the image with a filter. it's not SOOC. but it's exactly what i want it to be.
i'd appreciate your thoughts, especially if i haven't understood something, or just for fun.
finally, the image's title is because yesterday was earth day and because pale blue dot is prominent in my mind.
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