Our Pale Blue Dot is a love story. It's the story of discovering our Earth from the vantage point of space.  Be it an astronaut, a fledgling weather satellite or an orbiting fleet of high-tech robots, we now have a perspective of our planet of which our ancestors could only have dreamed.

In 1990, thanks to a suggestion from Carl Sagan, we have the famous Voyager 1 image of Earth; an image he later dubbed the “Pale Blue Dot”. This image often gets visually intertwined with the Apollo 17 image from 1972, the “Blue Marble”. Our story examines each of these images, among other famous early images of Earth from space. Ultimately we are connected to the present as we study global climate and its changes.

Writing the film, we imagined the sense of wonder and astonishment that, decades ago, occurred each time a ground-breaking image of Earth was returned from off-world.  This new perspective seems to rekindle a deeper appreciation for our living and breathing planet. It is beautiful and fragile. It is home.

In 1972 this Apollo 17 image "Blue Marble" is the first photograph of the entire disk of the planet and becomes an icon of the modern environmental movement.  It also serves as a turning point in our film when we bring it to life via an animation highlighting the incomplete nature of this striking photograph. 

Later,  the 1990 Voyager 1 image of the Earth from 6 billion kilometers away was dubbed "Pale Blue Dot" by Carl Sagan, inspiring his famous commentary about the obscurity of our place within the cosmos. It is from this enlightened reflection that we drew much inspiration to create this film, as can be evidenced by the opening sequence and final quote.  You can read the entire passage by Carl Sagan here.  

From the original 453 x 614 pixel image, we create a 50 second animation at the beginning of the film.  Partnering art and science we use music, narration and visuals to focus the audience on this small...blue...dot. A meditation, if you will, on the seemingly insignificance of our home planet and its isolation within the cosmos. 

However, the story has just begun. While Our Pale Blue Dot offers a stroll down memory lane - yes, there are the voices of the Apollo 8 astronauts taking in their first Earth rise -  there is more than sentimentality at work.  We truly hope to build an appreciation for looking at the Earth from space—something many in modern society take for granted.  We make use of this perspective every day, via smart phones and TV screens.  Whether it's getting directions, checking out a building location or tracking the latest hurricane...looking at the Earth from above is literally at our fingertips.

And so our film moves from single images of Earth to today’s extraordinary satellite imagery. Every day we rely on accurate weather forecasts via the legacy of the TIROS program. But there's more.  Earth observing satellites and their continuously streaming data have provided us with decades of information about our planet's vital signs: sea ice cover, ocean temperature, greenhouse gases and vegetation – to name just a few.

And what do we see?

We see much more than a snapshot of our beloved home. We see amazing details. We see all those seemingly insignificant little things adding up to a big picture. And that big picture is of us…we humans…and our Earth. And the only planet we've ever called home is changing before our eyes.

While our film was truly independent and not funded by NASA or NOAA, it makes significant use of many public domain photographs and data visualizations. As filmmakers, we are indebted to the scores of people and years of hard work which made these images possible. As a short film, Our Pale Blue Dot can only cover so much ground; it serves as an introduction into the basic concept of looking at Earth from space; it inspires us to consider the value of doing so.  In our resources section below, we will highlight much of the source content used as well as links to in-depth material regarding the science of climate change.

Our Pale Blue Dot was originally created for Science On a Sphere (SOS), and we strongly suggest that you find a location near you!  In addition, we will be releasing a specially designed HD version for viewing on the flat screen.  Stay Tuned!

CREDITS:

Produced by Verglas Media

Written, Directed and Edited by Victoria Weeks

Narration and Script Editing by William Peterson

Animation by Raymond McCarthy Bergeron 

Astronaut photography and data visualizations courtesy  NASA and NOAA

Science Advisor Eric Erbe

Music by DP Kaufman and Jami Sieber.

For the people of Earth.

WORLD PREMIERE: May 31, 2014

World Science Festival, New York City

Our Pale Blue Dot  premiered at the World Science Festival  on May 31 at the Eye of the Storm: The Science of Weather exhibit.  A special installation of NOAA's Science On a Sphere was housed in a huge dome at the Gould Plaza, NYU.  We also spent some time discussing the art of science and spherical filmmaking and our work in NASA's latest film, Water Falls.  Our favorite question from the audience?

"What can we, as a global community, do about climate change?"

SOS Network Conference: June 10, 2014

Science Museum of Minnesota, St. Paul

On June 10, 11 & 12,  we were in St. Paul at the Science Museum of Minnesota for the Science On a Sphere Users Collaborative Network conference. Our Pale Blue Dot was shared with the SOS Network members for the first time during our Tuesday afternoon session "How to: Tips and Tricks for Video Production on the Sphere."

August 13, 2014

Released worldwide to the Science On a Sphere Network

With over 100 SOS locations around the world, be sure to check for a location near you! 

February 11, 2014  - West Virginia Premiere - West Virginia Cultural Center 

Adapted for the flat screen, Our Pale Blue Dot screened during the Taste of Tucker gala to a room of West Virginia legislators and citizens and businesses of Tucker County. The Culture Center Theater, also home to NPR's Mountain Stage radio show, was a spectacular venue to premiere the film in West Virginia.

April 25, 2015 - Screening - Plum Tuckered Film Festival

As co-founder of the Plum Tuckered Film Festival, Verglas Media was excited to screen the film (not in competition) at the inaugural event in Thomas, WV.  

October 4, 2015 - Screening - West Virginia Filmmakers Festival - Winner

The 16th Annual WVFF is held October 2-4 in Sutton, WV. Our Pale Blue Dot will screen in the Elk Theater during the 3:35 to 5:30 block. Don't miss this chance to see it on the big screen!

SLIDESHOW - Overview of looking at Earth from space in Our Pale Blue Dot

This set of production stills from the film reveals the many ways of looking at the Earth from space. Photographs by astronauts and satellites are only the beginning. Quickly the images become detailed composites - many layers of processed data combined to visually reveal the science.  Through time, such visualizations are used to reveal global patterns - sometimes decades in the making. Many become the foundation of weather and climate models, ultimately helping us understand how our planet is changing. 

IN-DEPTH - Details and links about the science and imagery used in the making of the film.

BLUE MARBLE

December 7, 1972 – The NASA Apollo 17 crew: Eugene Cernan and Harrison “Jack” Schmitt and Ron Evans photograph the Earth as a full disk for the first time; a truly beautiful, iconic image of our planet.  Mapping it to the sphere with the rest of the planet in wire-frame, we are able to experience its incomplete nature.

This story in The Atlantic provides a captivating behind-the-scenes look.  Read it here. 

FIRST COMPLETE VIEW OF THE WORLD'S WEATHER

Launched April 1, 1960 TIROS 1 marked the dawn of Earth-observing satellites, and provided the first images of clouds and weather patterns from the vantage point of space. Here, 450 TIROS images from several days come together to provide the first full-globe composite of Earth’s clouds.

Learn more about the TIROS program and legacy with this video.

2002 BLUE MARBLE

Layers and layers of satellite data combine to give us this detailed true-color view of the entire planet.  Called the Blue Marble after the original 1972 image, this high-tech composite from 30 years later has become equally iconic.

Learn more about the process of creating this image in the NASA Earth Observatory feature here.

THE COMPLEXITY OF MODERN REMOTE SENSING

At this point in the film, we quickly introduce various observed data and model layers in order to illustrate the complexity of modern remote sensing. We start with vegetation observed from satellites and sea surface temperature from ECCO2 model output, layer in observed weekly sea ice extent,  and finally add atmospheric water vapor from the GEOS-5 Nature run collection.

Related SOS Datasets: 

Weekly Sea Ice from 1987 - 2013 (every 10 days)

Sea Surface Currents and Temperature with Veg Land

GLOBAL SEA SURFACE CURRENTS AND TEMPERATURE

Along with the temperature of the ocean’s surface we see flows and currents, also at the surface.  This stunning visualization combines satellite observations with ECCO2 model output. 

Learn more about Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean - or  ECCO2 -  here.

Related SOS Dataset:

Sea Surface Currents and Temperature with Veg Land

SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE - GFDL Model

The ocean covers 71 percent of Earth’s surface. This makes it a major factor in weather and climate as it serves as a transporter - and storehouse - of energy.  Monitoring the ocean’s surface is a fleet of satellites which provide global coverage in great detail.  Building upon the observations, scientists use sea surface temperature in models and climate simulations.  Our film makes use of the output of NOAA's GFDL Earth System Model. 

Related SOS Dataset:

GFDL SST Model with Land Background

EARTH FROM SPACE

Over the last fifty years, looking at the Earth from space has evolved from simple snapshots taken by hand into comprehensive streams of daily global coverage by fleets of satellites. As artists, we appreciate the striking beauty of this perspective, and as citizens of the planet we are indebted to the information it provides. 

Please visit climate.nasa.gov  to learn more about climate change -  its causes, effects and NASA's role.  Videos and educational materials abound! Here is a great resource for engaging kids.

For in-depth access to climate and historical weather information, visit NOAA's National Climatic Data Center.

Special thanks to NOAA Science On a Sphere and their comprehensive collection of datasets as well as the NOAA Visualization Lab for their contributions to the catalog.

We would also like to thank the team at the NASA Scientific Visualization Studio for their amazing public service of visualizing complex data and making it so readily available to the public and science media producers.

If you have any questions or comments about the film, please be sure to contact us!