My Birthday

This photograph was taken by Voyager 1 in 1990. It’s called “The Pale Blue Dot“. The coloured streaks in this photo are reflections of the sun inside the camera. The Earth itself is the bright dot in the rightmost streak, about halfway up. One pixel. I’m one of seven billion people sharing that dot, and I’ve ridden it fifty times around the sun. Seeing it so very small makes me think we ought to be kind to one another, and the planet.

“Anyone who believes in indefinite growth in anything physical, on a physically finite planet is either mad or an economist.” David Attenborough.

Posted by sheila

Sheila came to La Palma with a six month contract and has stayed 24 years so far. She used to work as a software engineer at the observatory, but now she's a writer and Starlight guide.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.