Carl Sagan, the man himself - Pale Blue Dot

[The_Radiation_Specialist]

This never gets old. Very touching...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p86BPM1GV8M

[tofu]

That chokes me up every time I see it.

[Torsten]

I've referred many people to Bill Arnett's "Reflections on a Mote of Dust" page (http://obs.nineplanets.org/psc/pbd.html) that has that image and almost identical text.

I think that showing all those closer-in images of the Earth in that video, beautiful as they are, defeats the purpose of what Sagan was trying to achieve with that pale blue dot image. He really wanted people to understand how small this place is in the scheme of things, and that image demonstrates that. But maybe I'm just used to my particular way of appreciating that message. I've read that text often, and pondered that little group of pixels that represents the Earth. I wouldn't say it chokes me up, but it makes me want to be a better steward of my neck of the woods.

[The_Radiation_Specialist]

I think having the man himself say it would be far better than reading the text, but thats just me.

[KaiYeves]

Read the book two months ago.
I like his voice. It just sounds smart.
I chose it as my avatar for a reason.

[soylentgreen]

That specific one has been in my YouTube favorites from when I first started looking around there.

I framed the horizontal poster of the image and text from the Planetary Society and have hanging in the bathroom. I've noticed that when someone uses our loo for the first time, they tend to come out well after the flush sound has died away! :)

Many people seem to feel that Neil de Grasse Tyson is the next Sagan. I'm dubious...but I'm biased. (I cannot stand that hyper-modern, sterile McPlanetarium on Central Park West.)

[mfumbesi]

I always feel left out, when items/videos on YouTube are discussed since I don't have the bandwidth.

[Maksutov]

[edit]Many people seem to feel that Neil de Grasse Tyson is the next Sagan. I'm dubious...but I'm biased. (I cannot stand that hyper-modern, sterile McPlanetarium on Central Park West.)Neil's OK, but a little too glitzy.

Complete agreement re Rose. Give me the real Hayden Planetarium anytime!

Man, that brings back memories of many fine weekends in NYC back in the 1950s.

As for Carl, he was wonderful and unique.

Hard to believe he's been gone for over ten years.

:mad:

[KaiYeves]

Will I get banned for saying that I'd like to use soylentgreen's loo? In January, I went to one of those "Night at the Museum" sleepovers. (The movie's pretty fly, but the experience was better) After orientation, I made a beeline for the Rose Center with a friend who's not so knowlegeable about space. Being nearly alone was pretty surreal, as there were just a handful of kids on the first and second levels. After looking at the stuff down there, we took the elevator up to the Scales of the Universe, on the second floor. There was nobody there, and we were above the city with these wierd purple lights on everything. Just us and the universe. I explained everything to my friend, and they were amazed. I think Sagan would have liked that moment.
Regarding Tyson: Well, I think everybody's too hard on him about the Pluto thing, which he didn't have too much to do with after all. I think he certainly makes an admirable try, and is very, very good. Still, he's not as cool.

[The_Radiation_Specialist]

And so comes the long line of BAUTers waiting to use Soylentgreen's bathroom.