NASA’s Voyager 1 took first photo of Earth and Moon together on this day in 1977

NASA’s space probe Voyager 1 snapped the first-ever picture of Earth and Moon in a single frame on this day, i.e. September 18, in 1977. The image, which shows Parth of the Earth and a part of the moon in the same frame, was shot from a distance of nearly 7.25 million miles. In later years, the picture was known to be an important social document and planetary scientist who was the first to set eyes on the photo had explained that it had the potential to remind people around the globe that ‘we were all in this together’. 

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Voyager 1 was launched a few weeks after its twin, Voyager 2, back in 1977. Both the probes conducted unprecedented ‘grand tour’ of the solar system’s giant planet, flying by Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. According to NASA, Voyager 1 made successful reconnaissance flybys of the planets, including Saturn’s moon Titan, in 1979 and 1980. 

As both the probes kept on flying, out toward the great unknown of interstellar space, the astronauts had decided to turn off the cameras of the two spacecraft in a bid to save precious power during their long journey. However, just before closing its eyes, Voyager 1 turned around to take one last look at Earth. The image was 11.66 million km from Earth, directly above Mount Everest, on the night side of the planet. 

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Still exploring 

Voyager 1 was also the probe which took the famous image known as ‘Pale Blue Dot’. Both the probes are still going strong and the scientists believe that they should have enough power left to continue gathering data about their exotic surroundings. Voyager 1’s extended mission is expected to continue until around 2025 when its radioisotope thermoelectric generators will no longer supply enough electric power to operate its scientific instruments. 

According to NASA, the probe will be moving silently through space, with its Audi-visual Golden Record on board, whose sounds and images were selected to portray the delivery of life and culture on Earth. The probe is streaking toward a distant encounter with a star called ‘Gliese 445, which lies 17.6 light-years from Earth, due to sweep closest to it in about 40,000 years. 

(Image: @NASAJPL/Twitter) 

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