On this day, February 14th, in 1990, one of the most remarkable photographs ever taken was beamed back to our planet from the Voyager 1 space probe 6 billion kilometers away. To reach this distance, Voyager had already been traveling for 13 years. Known as the “Pale Blue Dot”, the picture remains the most distant image ever taken of our planet Earth. For the anniversary this year, NASA released an updated version of the picture taking the original data and enhancing it with more modern photo processing techniques.
Our planet, mere pixels wide, suspended in a sunbeam
Astronomer Carl Sagan, who requested the photo be taken - the last Voyager would capture before shutting off its camera to save power for the long journey into deep space - said
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."
— Carl Sagan
I didn’t imagine that my love of space would draw me into a world of international development and meeting Esther. I couldn’t connect the dots as eloquently as Sagan. In my mind, these two worlds, one of social justice, and one of the stars, were separate. But in my heart, they were always one and the same. Then two things happened. First, a close friend of mine sent me an article about how the clouds and storms of Jupiter produce a carbon condensate…literally diamond rain. It rains diamonds on Jupiter. Turns out that diamonds are ubiquitous in space. Stars like our sun actually become planet sized diamonds when they burn out at the end of their eon-spanning lives. I was struck by the irony of this. Sierra Leone’s civil war, during which Esther built Women in Action, is called the “Blood Diamond” War. The civil conflict was catalyzed by the diamond trade. In space, we have found incredible things. Black holes larger than our solar system. Planets so close to their stars that their atmospheres are on fire. Places with three suns in the sky. But for all those things, the most important discovery we could ever make would be to find life elsewhere in the universe. Perhaps life is the jewel - the diamond of the universe. And yet we have life right here and we have literally traded it for rocks. What if we treated life as precious as that picture tells us to?
Which brings me to the second thing. It occurred to me one day that the founding of Women in Action, Esther’s school, coincides not only with Valentine’s day, but the anniversary of the Pale Blue Dot. So, for me, this is a very important day. And one which allows me, with your support, to deal more kindly with one another - cherish what we have. The whole world as a Valentine.
Right now Esther is struggling with paying teacher salaries and has fallen behind and we are looking to raise 2000 dollars to support her. I’m asking for your help in this recognizing that, in light of this picture above, our differences become astronomically tiny and our similarities astronomically large. Thank you for any consideration and Happy Pale Blue Dot Day!
-Matthew
(PS. New photos below from Esther from the new location in Port Loko!)
