The Green Universe: Carl Sagan and the "Pale Blue Dot"

Link: http://sierraclub.typepad.com/greenlife/2012/03/green-perspec.html

March 26, 2012

The Green Universe: Carl Sagan

Sensational news stories can make badly behaved celebrities and bickering politicians seem larger than life. Luckily, the scientists who study the vast universe maintain a different perspective. This week, we'll bring you quotes and videos that reveal nature's star power.

Carl Sagan and the "Pale Blue Dot"

It might look like a grainy photograph, but take a closer look. See that tiny little dot in the middle of the yellowish band of light? Carl Sagan asked the NASA operators of the Voyager I to snap this picture as the spacecraft was leaving our solar system, to remind us of this very simple fact: "Everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was lived out their life . . . lived there."

Watch the video below to see our home planet in a new light:

--photo courtesy of NASA; video by Pale Blue Films

Gulf Oil Spill Pictures: Aerial Views Show Leak's Size

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Gulf Oil Spill Worsens

Photograph by Chris Graythen, Getty Images

A boat makes its way through crude oil on the water's surface on Wednesday, about a week after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig sank into the Gulf of Mexico. Even now authorities can only guess at the size of the spill, because the ongoing leak is deep underwater.

Most large oil spills in history stemmed from tanker accidents, and their sizes could be reckoned based on the holding capacity of the wrecked vessels.

Russia’s Seven Wonders

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There are seven wonders of the world, but most of them were already destroyed either by the hands of humans or by the cruel passing of time. And last year a group of some Russian TV-channels, newspapers and radio stations hold an official opinion poll and discovered what kinds of real wonders Russia has. Anyone could participate in the poll taking votes via internet or SMS services. So, the seven best-looking and really fascinating places were chosen.