NASA : ‘Pale Blue Dot’ images turn 25

Valentine’s Day could be the best day to celebrate your love for the ‘pale blue dot’ spinning away in the vast darkness of space.

This Valentine’s Day marks the 25th anniversary of some iconic images taken by NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft. The photo was the first-ever taken of its kind on February 14, 1990. The spacecraft looked back at the solar system from beyond Neptune to snap the photos.

In a release NASA explained why a few planets don’t show up in the photos of the planets.

“This “family portrait” captures Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter, Earth and Venus from Voyager 1’s unique vantage point. A few key members did not make it in: Mars had little sunlight, Mercury was too close to the sun, and dwarf planet Pluto turned out too dim,” NASA writes.

Apparently these images weren’t part of the original plan, but astronomer Carl Sagan had the idea to take the photos.

Agencies/Canadajournal