"Pale Blue Dot" in original size and color. On February 14, 1990, having completed its primary mission, the Voyager 1 spacecraft was commanded by NASA to turn around and photograph the planets of the solar system. NASA compiled the 60 images of this unique event in a series called "Family Portrait". One of the pictures returned was of Earth, from a record distance of about 6 billion kilometers (3.7 billion miles), showing up as a pale blue dot in the grainy photograph you see above; this picture would be later known as "Pale Blue Dot". Yes, that tiny blue dot on the right is really the Earth. "Pale Blue Dot" is also a book inspired by this picture, written in 1994 by Carl Sagan, where he describes the image in these words : «From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it's different. Consider again that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.» A mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. A wonderful picture that brings another perspective on Life, the Universe, and Everything. A wonderful picture, of course, but of poor quality. Its original size is 600 × 442 pixels, which is infinitesimal when compared to the multi-megapixel capacities of our most rudimentary contemporary appliances. But we must ponder upon the 6 billion kilometers traveled at the speed of light by each of these pixels to better appreciate the feat that represents the image, no matter how small it is. And even if the photograph was taken with the darkest filter and the shortest possible exposure (5 milliseconds) to avoid saturating the camera's vidicon tube with sunlight, the result is grainy and overexposed. This is ruminating on the technical limitations of the era that came to me the idea of ​​trying to solve this problem. It would be relatively easy to improve the sharpness, resolution and brightness of the image with my trusty Photoshop to make, for example, a large poster or wallpaper. But just how far can we modify or alter a historical picture like this without betraying its very essence, its authenticity, its substance-full marrow? The vast majority of astronomical images provided by various space agencies to the media are manipulated prior to being published. A little more contrast here, a little less light there, and reframe... Some of them are transmitted in shades of gray by satellites to be colored later by specialists, and others are completely recolored to highlight some phenomenon. In short, unless you browse through the space agencies' archives providing access to raw images taken by the various ongoing missions, most of us will rarely see an astronomical image that wasn't "improved" first. Only there's this small thing. "Pale Blue Dot", the image you see above, has never been altered. What you see is exactly what the Voyager spacecraft sent us, pixel for pixel. It may be of poor quality, but this defect gives it extra power. Because one of the grains of this diffraction effect, the one slightly lighter than the others, is our planet. So I was well aware that any attempt to restore or improve the image would be futile because the real beauty of this picture, its deeper meaning lies in its initial imperfection. But as I was curious to see the result, I tried some experiments while trying to minimize the number of changes in order to stay as close as possible to the original. After several attempts and a few hours of handling layers, transparency, filters and all, this picture appeared. "Pale Blue Dot", "improved" version. No pixel was removed or added. Everything that is in this picture was on the original, the only compromise I had to make was to apply a Gaussian blur filter on the rays in the background to eliminate graininess, which also reduced the sharpness of the light rays. But as these are artifacts are caused by the lenses, I felt it was better to keep their beautiful prismatic colors than emphasize their exact shape, which is arbitrary. The image was also greatly enlarged (more than 2500 pixels in height), which offers the possibility of making a printed large-format poster without aliasing, or a high-resolution wallpaper. I like the final result, which is technically superior to the original, but I still have some doubts... "Pale Blue Dot" is a unique, historic image. It is the Mona Lisa of astronomical photographs. Can we really change it, no matter how slightly, without thinking about the ethical implications of such an act of treason and risk suffering the wrath of purists who will not fail to be offended? Maybe not, after all. What do you think? But if you'd like to use it as a wallpaper, feel free to use this cropped and resized version. "Pale Blue Dot", wallpaper format (1900 × 1200). Because it is sometimes better to admire the splendor offered by the Universe, and leave aside the ethical considerations.

Astronauts, moon and space unit study activities. I'm giving you free dot-to-dot printables based on four popular constellations...

Astronauts, moon and space unit study activities. I'm giving you free dot-to-dot printables based on four popular constellations...

Explore the Space Science homeschool unit study from The Good and the Beautiful, and learn how to make a constellation at home!

Lassen Sie Ihr Kind die Zahlen von 1 bis 84 sinnvoll verbinden, dann kommt ein Roboter auf einem fremden Planeten. Die Malen-nach-Zahlen-Vorlagen erhalten Sie gratis zum Download.

Use colorful dots to create fun exercises for kids that are easy to do anywhere and modify for different abilities. Download the free dots today!

Did you know we offer our imagery and creative consultancy to brands, organisations and individuals who share our values and resonate with our philosophy? If you're working on a meaningful project that centres nature connection, planetary or personal sustainability and you would benefit from our...

“a vision in gold and light” a variation on klimt’s “the kiss” featuring juno and peter 💕☀️✨⭐️ [image description: a digital painting based on gustav klimt’s “the kiss”; peter nureyev has short dark...

Please don’t start it unless you intend to read it all, and read it carefully. In the incredible words of Carl Sagan: The mightiest among us, the most powerful we know, are all but fleeting masters…

***THIS LESSON HAS BEEN UPDATED. THE DICE ARE NOW MATS TO PRINT AND USE WITH ACTUAL DICE. SEE THE END OF THE POST FOR THE RESOURCES*** Today was my first full day of exploring Dash and Dot the Wonder Workshop robots with my students in grades K-5. It was a...

Right now, I am feeling incredibly overcome with this sense of overwhelming, stupendous, inexplicable feeling of utter insignificance, that numbing feeling of nothingness that makes you question the core your very existence and it’s validity on an astronomical and philosophical scale. What are we? Why do we think of us as “Masters of the Universe?” …

CUSTOM WORD - I will translate ANY NAME or WORD into Morse Code that you would like. SPACE IS LIMITED along the bracelet.  This bracelet can accommodate a maximum of 18 dots and dashes. If you're uncertain whether your word will fit, simply email me your word and bracelet size, and I'll respond within the day to let you know. Materials: Sterling Silver Easy chart to find your size 5 Days to Custom Make Bracelet Dot Thickness: 5 Millimeters Bracelet Finish: Polished Silver Ships within 5 business days Handcrafted Item Morse code is simply a method of transmitting text information in a series of on-off tones, lights, or clicks that can be directly understood by a skilled listener or observer without special equipment. -Wikipedia How to find your bracelet size Use the below instructions to measure your wrist size. Next, use the size chart for your bracelet to find your perfect size. If you are between wrist or bracelet sizes, I recommend choosing the next size up. Find Your Wrist Size Follow the instruction below to determine your wrist size. The general rule for finding your bracelet size is to add half an inch to your wrist size measurement. If you prefer a loose fit, you may wish to size up. You will need: Flexible measuring tape or ruler String or strip of paper Pen or marker Option 1: Use a flexible measuring tape. With your palm open and facing up, wrap the measuring tape around your wrist, just above your wrist bane. Note down the measurement of your wrist size. Option 2: Use a string. With your palm open and facing up, wrap the string or string or strip of paper around your wrist, just above your wrist bone. Mark where the ends meet with a pen or a marker. Next, lay the string or piece of paper flat and measure it to where you've made the mark to find your wrist size and note it down. Size Guide If you would like a looser fit, size up. Wrist Measurement (inches) Bracelet Size (inches) Bracelet Size (centimeters) 5.5" 6" 15.3 cm 5.75" 6.25" 15.8 cm 6" 6.5" 16.5 cm 6.25" 6.75" 17.15 cm 6.5" 7" 17.75 cm 6.75" 7.25" 18.5 cm 7" 7.5" 19 cm 7.25" 7.75" 19.75 cm 7.5" 8" 20.3 cm 7.75" 8.25" 21 cm 8" 8.5" 21.5 cm 8.25" 8.75" 22.25 cm 8.5" 9" 23 cm 8.75" 9.25" 23.5 cm 9" 9.5" 24cm 9.25" 9.75" 24.75 cm 9.5" 10" 25.5 cm 9.75" 10.25" 26 cm 10" 10.5" 26.7 cm

Somehow summer is over and I have no idea how that happened. Maybe its the weather - it's been hot, hot, hot and sticky for the last couple of weeks around here - but whatever it is, I am NOT ready! Regardless of my desire to stop time, my middle kiddo goes back to school tomorrow and my oldest has been in school for almost three weeks. (Which is still hard for me to wrap my mind around since we are so used to starting school after Labor Day.) This year we compiled a "Summer Fun List" of around 30 things we wanted to do during the summer. (We still have several items on our Summer Fun List that we haven't completed, but I'm going to claim an extension until the autumnal equinox on September 22nd for those. Is that cheating?) This activity was inspired by one of the list items - "Go Stargazing". I found a site called Lie Back Look Up that has a lot of great activities, including a printable star map for kids which I printed out and brought with us to the beach in early August. The girls were able to find a couple of the easier constellations (i.e. The Big Dipper) but were struggling with identifying the others. (I think its a bit like using a microscope with children. You may know what you are seeing, but the kids can't distinguish between an air bubble and an amoeba due to their limited experience.) When we got home, I started thinking about ways to explore the constellations with them. I found an awesome book by HA Rey (the creator of Curious George) called Find the Constellations. I also saw quite a few constellation cards on Pinterest - check out my Science with Kids board to see some of them. My favorite are these from Lie Back, Look Up that includes information about each of the constellations on the back. We printed those, laminated them and stuck them on a key ring for future reference. Then I had a flashback to my own elementary school days and remembered making constellation tubes out of those black plastic film canisters. Since those are pretty few and far between these days (who uses film?!?) I thought we could make them using toilet paper tubes (one of my favorite things to repurpose). I found a few examples on the web, but no super clear instructions and since I did them completely wrong the first time, I figured it might be a good DIY project to write up in case other people have the same problems that I had. So, here it is. Let me know if you make them and have any feedback!! Step 1: Print out the constellation patterns from the About.com Space site. I think these may have originally been intended for use with the smaller film canisters because I found that I needed to print them at 120% size to match the approximate diameter of the toilet paper tube. The other key thing here is to make sure to select "flip horizontally" found under the 'layout' option in the print screen. I ended up with inverted constellations the first time because I didn't do this step. Because the words also end up flipped, I would print out an extra sheet not flipped so that you can use it as a reference. (I developed the ability to read upside down pretty well when I was teaching in the classroom but trying to read stuff flipped gives me a headache!) Step 2: Gather the rest of your materials. We used the following: empty toilet paper tubes glue stick tape scissors black construction paper squares (4.5" x 4.5") black sharpie marker giant push pin cork board Step 3: Cut around the outside, dotted line around the constellation pattern. Glue to the center of the construction paper. Step 4: Place the construction paper on the piece of cork board (I doubled it because my cork was fairly thin) and use the giant push pin to punch holes where the stars are located in the pattern. Step 5: Trim around the square into a rough circle shape (it does not need to be perfect!!). Then make cuts from the outer edge of the construction paper into the center, but do not cut into the constellation pattern. This allows for easy attaching of the construction paper to the cardboard tube. I made cuts to divide the piece into 8 wedges - you could probably do more to make the fit even smoother, but I wouldn't do less. Prefold the wedges by holding the circle with your thumb on the edge of the white constellation paper and folding the wedge upwards. Step 6: Center the constellation in the top of the cardboard tube and tape each wedge down. Start with the wedges opposite each other (i.e. 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock) then move on to the ones perpendicular to those (i.e. 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock). Finally tape the remaining 4 wedges down then go all the way around with another long piece of tape to add extra security. (You could also use duct tape here.) Step 7: Using the sharpie marker, write the name of the constellation on the side of the tube. Step 8: Close one eye and use the other eye to look through the tube at the constellation pattern. Start by sharing the name of the constellation with your child and have them look through the tube at the pattern. As they get more comfortable with the patterns, do it the opposite way and see if they can tell you the name of the constellation after viewing the pattern. Step 9: Because the tubes are fairly delicate, store them in a secure box. We chose to use a fairly thick shoe box. Also, because we only had enough rolls to make 4 constellation tubes to start, I put the extra patterns in the box as well so we could make more as we collected more empty toilet paper rolls.

Carl Sagan: #Cosmos, Pale Blue Dot & Famous Quotes http://t.co/jp2E0W3m3r

I am part of a small group of quilting friends who each year decide together on a quilt pattern for a block swap. This year we decided to m...

Photo Source: www.kidssoup.com Having your kiddos practice tracing or drawing constellations is another great activity to include in your summer star unit! We found this introductory worksheet {pictured left} at KidsSoup to get you started. Sharpening visual discrimination skills, students must study the picture of the constellation in order to re-create the image in the space provided. [NOTE: Before they attempt drawing, invite your kiddos to trace the picture provided in order to get a feel for the shape!] Once they've had practice copying various constellations, provide them with a "constellation map" or "star paper" and invite them to create their own! Since your kiddos will be experimenting with shapes and ways to connect the dots, provide them with a practice map to use in working out the kinks. After creating their unique constellation, being sure to record it on the official constellation map {pictured below}, have them name it and craft a mythical tale about its origin. Include this information on the new constellation form, providing each child with a certificate of "discovery authentication". If you're feeling ambitious, take all of your students' newly discovered constellations and merge them into a complete sky map. Invite students to try and match each constellation to their creator. {Free} Download:

Connect the dots of this coloring page and reveal a sweet constellation!

At Sherman Oaks Elementary School, all students in grades TK - 6 prepare an exhibition project to present to the community at the end of th...

This is my first year teaching in upper elementary. One of the things that I have really worked on is implementing student-led learning in m...

Get your little space explorer ready for launch into kindergarten! Give him a head start in math with this stellar subtraction worksheet.

Have you ever imagined the world as a whole? Have you ever imagined it as just simply a pale blue dot, or merely just a tiny speck of dust? Just imagine….. We live on this pale blue dot, it i…

***THIS LESSON HAS BEEN UPDATED. THE DICE ARE NOW MATS TO PRINT AND USE WITH ACTUAL DICE. SEE THE END OF THE POST FOR THE RESOURCES*** Today was my first full day of exploring Dash and Dot the Wonder Workshop robots with my students in grades K-5. It was a...

Looking for some fun space themed printables? Get these unique constellation lacing cards and many other free printables from Mrs. Home Economist.

seriously, right in front of my salad?

Bring a relaxed and laid-back vibe right into your living space with our A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte Wallpaper Mural. This eye-catching painting was painted by iconic French post-Impressionist painter Georges Seurat, who was a master of “pointillism” - a painting technique that uses small, colorful dots arranged in patterns to create a particular aesthetic.

Around and Around We Go! I love a good challenge and this week I gave my 2nd graders a new Dash challenge called Around and Around We Go! I placed an x inside our tape squares and a rectangle in the middle. Their first task was to code Dash around...

Physicists have found that a new powerful tool they call 'Wigner flow' is the quantum analog of phase space flow. Wigner flow provides information for quantum dynamics similar to that gleaned from phase space trajectories in classical physics. Wigner flow can be used for the visualization of quantum dynamics. Additionally, Wigner flow helps with the abstract analysis of quantum dynamics using topological methods.

“back again with tpp but make it all about vespa and buddy ❤️ podfic: https://t.co/Jiw1roStom”

Space Camp for Interested Visually Impaired Students is a week long camp that takes place at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, coordinated by teachers for the visually impaired and is accessible to blind and VI students.

We've put together 9 super cool coding projects for kids using Wonder Workshop robots Dot and Dash, all shared by other kids, clubs, and teachers. How fun!

Walter Russell (May 19, 1871–May 19, 1963) was the progenitor of a “new world-thought” centered on light; in books such as The Electrifying Power of Man-Woman Balance, The Book of Early Whisperings, and The Dawn of a New Day in Human Relations, he foresaw “a marriage between religion and science” in which the laws of […]