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The Pale Blue Dot – Download

Earth as a tiny bluish dot suspended in a grainy beam of light., a speck in the vast emptiness that fills the rest of the frame.
For the 30th anniversary of one of the most iconic images taken by NASA’s Voyager mission, a new version of the image known as “the Pale Blue Dot.” Earth is visible as a bright speck within the sunbeam just right of center and appears softly blue, as in the original version published in 1990.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
February 5, 2019
Credit NASA/JPL-Caltech
Historical Date February 14, 1990
PIA Number PIA23645
Language
  • english

The Pale Blue Dot is a photograph of Earth taken Feb. 14, 1990, by NASA’s Voyager 1 at a distance of 3.7 billion miles (6 billion kilometers) from the Sun. The image inspired the title of scientist Carl Sagan's book, "Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space," in which he wrote: "Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us."

The Pale Blue Dot: Carl Sagan's Dream Shot

For the 30th anniversary of the iconic image, an updated version was released in 2020, using modern image-processing software and techniques, while attempting to respect the original data and intent of those who planned the images. The revised image was processed by JPL engineer and image processing enthusiast Kevin M. Gill with input from two of the image's original planners, Candy Hansen and William Kosmann.

Downloads

Pale Blue Dot (1990)

Feb 13, 2025

JPEG (29.48 KB)

Pale Blue Dot (1990)

Feb 13, 2025

TIFF (681.61 KB)

Pale Blue Dot – Revisited (2020)

Feb 13, 2025

JPEG (617.91 KB)

Pale Blue Dot Revisited (2020)

Feb 13, 2025

TIFF (29.85 MB)