🔬 The "Pale Blue Dot" photo of Earth (1990)
Where: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, USA (mission control)
Nearby on the globe: Griffith Observatory → 🌍 Open the 3D globe
📅 On This Day: February 14
February 14, 1990: The "Pale Blue Dot" photo of Earth. On 14 February 1990, the space probe Voyager 1 turned around and photographed Earth from more than 6 billion kilometres away. In the picture, Earth was a tiny blue dot in a ray of sunlight. Astronomer Carl Sagan said that dot is home to all of us.
✨ More events on this day
- 1838 💡 Inventor Margaret E. Knight was born; she built a machine that folds and glues flat-bottomed paper bags, like the ones still used at shops today.
- 1859 💡 George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. was born; for the 1893 Chicago World's Fair he built a giant turning wheel, and Ferris wheels are named after him.
- 1876 💡 Alexander Graham Bell applied for a patent for the telephone, and inventor Elisha Gray filed papers for a similar idea on the very same day.
🧠 Question of the day
How did Earth look in Voyager 1's photo?
- A huge red ball
- A shiny ring
- A tiny blue dot
Show the answer
Answer: A tiny blue dot
Questions
What happened on February 14?
February 14, 1990: The "Pale Blue Dot" photo of Earth. It happened in Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, USA (mission control).
In the game, the "Today on Earth" panel shows this story on its day, with a question to answer and a place to fly to.