Hello Echoers!
Today is a special day! Obviously it's Valentine's day - a day we commonly associate with love and care. Well on this date, two of the most important things that remind me of love and care happened!
1) It's Women in Action Day! Women in Action, the school founded by Esther Kanu that we support through "Esther's Echo" was founded today in 1996! The school generally celebrates a joint Valentines and founding day today. I will likely be sent photo and video of the celebration in coming days from Women in Action and will send those along.
2) Today is also Pale Blue Dot day! Today in 1990, the most distant photo of Earth EVER taken (still to do this date) was imaged by the Voyager spacecraft. Voyager is now the most distant object we've sent into the stars. The last image it ever took was looking back on our own world – posted below. Astronomer Carl Sagan has a beautiful monologue about the image – taken under his recommendation. In it he remarks:
"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" - Carl Sagan
Pale Blue Dot
Working with Esther and the Women in Action is my way of cherishing the pale blue dot, especially as as astronomer and science communicator as my day job. I actually didn't know of this cosmic coincidence between our anniversary dates until a few years ago – I got chills when I did. To me, this makes sense. That our wonder of the universe results in love for each other.
So Happy Valentine's day today, all of you. And remember, that Pale Blue is also a colour of love! Thank you all for sharing so much love with myself, Esther, and of course the students of the Women in Action Development Project in Sierra Leone. More updates to come!