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Far, Farther, Farthest; From here the Earth is Just a Dot

nasa.gov
The Pale Blue Dot: An image of Earth taken from the Voyager mission

The Voyager missions were intended to study the outer planets and they did so with a bang, sending back picture after picture of astounding clarity and beauty.  The public was transfixed by these images and the two missions helped lead the way to newer and better probes that would give even more insights into the solar system.  One particular picture, taken at the end of the lifetime for the cameras was of little scientific value and yet, for me, has meant more than all the others.   That is the look back onto our own earth, taken at the suggestion of Carl Sagan.  This “Pale Blue Dot” and the words written by Sagan to describe its meaning have resonated in my own life and will be the subject of this week’s Stem Spots.

Dr. David Cornelison has been working as an educator and scientist in Arizona and Missouri universities for the last 32 years. From 2010-2018, he was the head of the Department of Physics, Astronomy and Materials Science at Missouri State University. His research interests lie at the intersection of experimental condensed-matter physics and astrophysics, while his educational efforts have focused on outreach to the K-12 school system. Most of all, he believes in curiosity-driven learning in the sciences and all other fields.