Saturday, February 14, 2015

Pale Blue Dot -25th Anniversary



Today is the 25th anniversary of the photo Nasa's Voyager 1 took on February 14, 1990 at roughly 4.5 billion miles from Earth.  This photo is considered the first ever photo of the solar system.  In the photo, Jupiter, Venus, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn and Earth can be seen.

Naturally, the Earth is focused on more and inspired the late Carl Sagan to write in 1994 his book, "The Pale Blue Dot" where he reminds humanity of its place in the cosmos or the recycling of the "Copernican principle" which posits that Earth/Man is not the center of the cosmos.






Some atheists and those in the scientific community erroneously believe that religion makes man into the main focus of this universe. He is the "special creation," as they often describe the human being. However, the idea that man was created by God and given dominion over nature does not mean he is a "special creation" etc (Genesis 1:26). It means that human beings are unique because we have the life of God in us. It does not mean that we are better than this universe. Before Sagan made his "Pale Blue Dot" analogy, the Bible already mentioned that we are nothing but dust (Genesis 2:7, Psalms 103:14). The Bible has always reminded man his place in the cosmos (Psalms 8:3-4, Job 7:17).   

While we seem to be just a "Pale Blue Dot," we are much more than that.  To date, we have not found any other intelligent life elsewhere.  This is odd considering that we are all made of "star stuff," and the fact that our galaxy has the same materials to repeat the same creation of life as it took place on Earth.  This begs the question: why does Earth only have life?  So far, the Bible is winning on this question since it clearly places Earth as "God's Ant Farm" where He created life and sustains it.  Nevertheless, the "Pale Blue Dot" photo reminds us that while we were created by God, we are not God.  We must care for one another and our world because it is the only place we have called home.    




Source:

http://www.space.com/28564-voyager1-pale-blue-dot-photo-25-years.html

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