Carl Sagan's Pale blue dot image.

Thanks for the thread. There may be many contributors here that take for granted the news of some new and exiting discovery about our universe that are becoming fairly routine, such as the advancements in the search for extra-solar planets that may harbor life and the newest and greatest rover to stroll around Mars. But we need to be reminded that there was a time, not too long ago, when the general population was totally ignorant of the wonders of the universe and our place in it.

That was where Sagan made his greatest impact. He brought into our homes the view of a cosmos far greater than what we dealt with in our day to day lives. The possibilities for the human race to ask questions they normally would overlook, and to impart just how small we were in a grand universe. Small, not insignificant. Small in the sense that we had the potential to expand and strive for goals that seemed unthinkable only a few short years ago.

He was often parodied for his "billions and billions" comments but that was just his point. There was so much "out there" that the common man just couldn't comprehend how vast the issue was. We throw around the word trillions now as if it were ten dollars. He died at a fairly young age (62) but I can just picture the glee he felt when the Hubble Deep Field image was published just prior to his death. In the deepest and darkest view of an extremely small area of space it was revealed that not just a multitude of stars were visible, but a multitude of galaxies.

I am a native of Ithaca, NY, the home of Cornell University, and where Sagan taught and lived. I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Sagan as he was building a new home. A modest home. The only thing that was special was that it sat on a bluff overlooking Cayuga Lake. ( I was a code inspector) He was a simple man, small in stature but grand in his visions. He was not a movie star or self absorbed with his celebrity, just someone who felt a need to share his passion for a greater understanding of the universe in all its glory. Michio Kaku has taken up this mantel today and continues the work that Sagan began.

I returned to Ithaca a few years ago after the death of a dear friend. As I was leaving the cemetery I noticed a small and very unassuming gravestone with these simple words: Carl Sagan, Nov. 9, 1934, December 20, 1996. My wife had no idea who he was and I didn't feel the need to enlighten her outside the comment that he was a great man who provided a vision that we are still looking up to to this day.

Ah yes Carl to bad hes no longer on this planet. I spend hundreds of hours on youtube and google video watching all his and other great minds documentaries. Made me think about things like if it could be true that we not existed anymore, if another civilization on the edge of the universe looked our way.

Then after looking to a documentary about how our brain perceives. And that when we look at the stars, we're actually looked inside ourselves. I got a little confused.

[edit on 14-4-2009 by Stranded]

reply to post by Kandinsky

Magic Bubble - NGC 7635

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/ac9ac9e0a53a.jpg[/atsimg]

Away in the constellation of Cassiopeia some 7,100 light-years from Earth, a star 40 times more massive than our Sun is blowing a giant bubble of its own material into space. Inside its magic blue sphere, the gigantic star burns at blue flame intensity - rendering a 6 light year wide envelope of hot gas around it that’s expanding outward at a speed of 4 million miles per hour..
www.universetoday.com...

Texas-Sized Computer Finds Most Massive Black Hole in Galaxy M87

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/75ea67b587ad.jpg[/atsimg]

PASADENA, Calif. — Astronomers Karl Gebhardt (The University of Texas at Austin) and Jens Thomas (Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics) have used new computer modeling techniques to discover that the black hole at the heart of M87, one the largest nearby giant galaxies, is two to three times more massive than previously thought.Weighing in at 6.4 billion times the Sun’s mass, it is the most massive black hole yet measured with a robust technique, and suggests that the accepted black hole masses in nearby large galaxies may be off by similar amounts. This has consequences for theories of how galaxies form and grow, and might even solve a long-standing astronomical paradox.

mcdonaldobservatory.org...

Giga Galaxy zoom.

www.gigagalaxyzoom.org...

Agent Smith talks like Carl Sagan.

reply to post by infobrazil


He does sound like him a bit.

For all you Carl Sagan "Cosmos" fans, they are playing episodes of the show on the Discovery Science Channel quite frequently.

Originally posted by Virion
For all you Carl Sagan "Cosmos" fans, they are playing episodes of the show on the Discovery Science Channel quite frequently.

Virion,thanks for the reply - it would have been Carl Sagan's 75th birthday today and theres a great webpage below with many excellent links
(including one where you can watch all thirteen episodes of Cosmos for free ).

Today would have been Carl Sagan's 75th birthday. His life and work were monumental in astronomy and public outreach, and he had a profound influence on many people. I count myself among those who say they might not be where they are today were it not for Carl Sagan. Reading his books such as "Cosmos" and "Demon Haunted World" broadened my horizons when I needed it most. One of my favorite books of all time is "Pale Blue Dot" which really puts everything in perspective..

www.universetoday.com...

Cosmos:
www.cosmolearning.com...

Cheers.

[edit on 02/10/08 by karl 12]

Originally posted by wylekat

I always did kinda know we're pretty much a speck of dust lodged in god's nose.

Maybe galexies are like gods cells. I think my brain just melted. lol jk