探索宇宙｜我们不过是这暗淡蓝点上的一颗尘埃

1990年，旅行者1号于距地球64亿公里处最后一次回望母星，拍摄下这张照片。

图片源自NASA（美国国家航空航天局），编号为PIA00452。1990年，由外太阳系空间探测器旅行者1号（Voyager 1）摄于距地球64亿公里外。图中亮点处为地球。

那个黯淡蓝点就是我们的星球。

有时我想，在宇宙中，在时空里，我们算什么呢？也许连一粒微尘都算不上。但在浩瀚之中，存在即是存在，每一分钟亦不容抹煞。我们的生命，就是要为每一刻而生，即使刹那芳华，也要绽放。

1994年，著名的美国科普作家卡尔·萨根（Carl Sagan）有感而发，写了一篇短文《黯淡的蓝点》（pale blue dot），后来成为名篇。在每一个节点，也许我们都应看一看它，思考起初与未来，以及如何去对待自己的一生。

黯淡的蓝点 Pale Blue Dot

在1990年2月14日，正当时旅行者1号太空船刚完成其首要任务之际，美国国家航太总署发出指令指示太空船向后看以拍摄它所探访过的行星。美国国家航太总署最终从这个动作中编译出60帧照片，辑成了一幅太阳系全家福。当中一张照片刚好把地球摄于镜内。地球在这张从40亿英里（64亿公里）外拍摄的照片中，只是在粒状照片里的一个渺小“暗淡蓝点”。

照片使用了一台窄角度的相机于黄道之上32°拍摄，并使用了蓝色、绿色和紫色的滤光镜。因为相对于阔角度相机来说，窄角度相机可用来拍摄在值得研究的地点上的一些微细特征。当中地球的大小只占整张照片的0.12像素。

【原文】

PIA00452 - This narrow-angle color image of the Earth, dubbed 'Pale Blue Dot', is a part of the first ever 'portrait' of the solar system taken by Voyager 1. The spacecraft acquired a total of 60 frames for a mosaic of the solar system from a distance of more than 4 billion miles from Earth and about 32 degrees above the ecliptic. From Voyager's great distance Earth is a mere point of light, less than the size of a picture element even in the narrow-angle camera. Earth was a crescent only 0.12 pixel in size. Coincidentally, Earth lies right in the center of one of the scattered light rays resulting from taking the image so close to the sun. This blown-up image of the Earth was taken through three color filters -- violet, blue and green -- and recombined to produce the color image. The background features in the image are artifacts resulting from the magnification.

美国天文学家卡尔·萨根（Carl Edward Sagan）博士说：

我们成功地（从外太空）拍到这张照片，细心再看，你会看见一个小点。就是这里，就是我们的家，就是我们。在这点上有所有你爱的人、你认识的人、你听过的人、曾经存在过的人在活着他们各自的生命。这里集合了一切的欢喜与苦难、上千种被确信的宗教、意识形态以及经济学说，所有猎人和抢劫者、英雄和懦夫、各种文化的创造者与毁灭者、皇帝与侍臣、相恋中的年轻爱侣、有前途的儿童、父母、发明家和探险家、教授道德的老师、贪污的政客、大明星、至高无上的领袖、人类历史上的圣人与罪人，通通都住在这里——一粒悬浮在阳光下的微尘。

地球是这个浩瀚宇宙剧院里的一个细小舞台。想想从那些将领们和皇帝们那里溢出的血河，他们的光荣与胜利让他们成为了这一点上一小部分，一瞬间的统治者。想想栖身在这点上一个角落的人正受着万般苦楚，而在几乎不能区分的同一点上的另外一个角落里亦同时栖身了另一批人。他们时常发生误解，他们又多渴望杀害另一方。他们的敌意有多强烈。我们的装模作样，我们的自以为是，我们的错觉以为自己在宇宙里的位置有多优越，通通都被这暗淡的光点所挑战。我们的星球只是在这被漆黑包裹的宇宙里一粒孤单的微粒而已。我们如此不起眼——在这浩瀚之中，我们不会从任何地方得到提示去拯救我们自身。

……

一直有人说天文学是会让人们感到自己是很卑微的，天文学同时也是一种塑造性格的学问。对我来说，希望没有比这张从远处拍摄我们的微小世界照片更好的示范，去展示人类自大想法的愚蠢。对我来说，这强调了我们应该更加亲切和富于同情心地去对待身边的每一个人，以及要更加保护和珍惜这暗淡蓝点，这个我们目前所知唯一的家。

【原文】

Carl Sagan wrote, of this image 'Reflections on a Mote of Dust':

'We succeeded in taking that picture [from deep space], and, if you look at it, you see a dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever lived, lived out their lives. The aggregate of all our joys and sufferings, thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilizations, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every hopeful child, every mother and father, every inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every superstar, every supreme leader, every saint and sinner in the history of our species, lived there on a mote of dust, suspended in a sunbeam.

'The earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and in triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of the dot on scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner of the dot. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light.

'Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity -- in all this vastness -- there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. It is up to us. It's been said that astronomy is a humbling, and I might add, a character-building experience. To my mind, there is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly and compassionately with one another and to preserve and cherish that pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.'

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