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submitted 2 years ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz

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[-] LadyAutumn@lemmy.blahaj.zone 129 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

It's hard to explain how significant the Voyager 1 probe is in terms of human history. Scientists knew as they were building it that they were making something that would have a significant impact on humanity. It's the first man made object to leave the heliosphere and properly enter the interstellar medium, and this was always just a secondary goal of the probe. It was primarily intended to explore the gas giants, especially the Jovian lunar system. It did its job perfectly and gave us so many scientific discoveries just within our solar system.

And I think there's something sobering about the image of it going on a long, endless road trip into the galactic ether with no destination. It's a pretty amazing way to retire. The fact that even today we get scientific data from Voyager, that so far away we can still communicate with it and control it, is an unbelievable achievement of human ingenuity and scientific progress. If you've never seen the image the Pale Blue Dot you should see it. That linked picture is a revised version of the image made by Nasa and released in 2020. It's part of a group of the last pictures ever taken by Voyager 1 on February 14th 1990, a picture of Earth from 6 billion kilometers away. It's one of my favorite pictures, and it kinda blows my mind every time I see it.

[-] SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone 56 points 2 years ago

The pale blue dot photo always makes me tear up. We're so small and insignificant in such a grand universe and I'm crushed that I can't explore it.

this post was submitted on 06 May 2024

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