From the ET's Logbook:

Forty years ago Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 left Earth to explore the planets.                                            Voyager 1 has already left our Solar System and has lost contact with us.                                              

Five billion years from now, when the Sun will have expanded and swallowed up the Earth, Voyager 1 will still be travelling through space at a speed of at least 50,000 km per hour.                                                           

It carries with it the Golden Record (a metallic LP) which, among other things, includes greetings in languages from all over the world and a sample of Earth's music.                                                   

It was an amazing achievement, considering that you have more technology in the key-fob in your pocket today than they had in 1977.

Thanks to the astronomer, Carl Sagan, Voyager 1 was programmed to turn its camera around one last time to take a picture.  The astrophysicist who first saw the dark print of the photo with some bands of sunbeams in it, noticed what she thought was a speck of dust. She impulsively wanted to brush it off with her hand but suddenly realised it was Earth, five billion kilometers away!

As the scientists like to say, Think about that for a while!

The 3-minute video below of Carl's commentary on the speck of dust is always worth watching!

Pale Blue Dot