32 years have passed since the image of the Earth as a pale blue dot

On February 14, 1990, the Voyager 1 spacecraft peered into the inner solar system to take the first photos of the planets from its location, then beyond Neptune.

This “family portrait” captures Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter, Earth (top center), and Venus from a unique point of view. Other planets are not seen: Mars had little sunlight, Mercury was too close to the sun, and the dwarf planet Pluto was too dim.

Taking these images wasn’t part of the original plan, but the late Carl Sagan, a member of Voyager’s imaging team at the time, had the idea of ​​turning the spacecraft back toward home for one last look. The title of his 1994 book, “Pale Blue Dot,” refers to the image of Earth in this series.

The image of the Earth contains scattered light that resembles a beam of sunlight, a feature of the camera itself that makes Little Earth look even more dramatic. Voyager 1 was 40 astronomical units from the sun at this time. One astronomical unit is equal to 150 million kilometers.

These images are the last that the Voyager 1, released in 1977, sent to Earth. Mission specialists then shut down the camera so the control computer could be reused. The ship is still functional, but it no longer has the ability to take images.

Nowadays the Voyager 1, at a distance of 155 astronomical units, is the furthest man-made object from Earth, and it still communicates regularly with our planet. In August 2012, the spacecraft entered interstellar space — the space between stars — and has sent back data over this uncharted territory ever since. Its twin, Voyager 2, also launched in 1977, is also in interstellar space at 130 astronomical units.