Earthrise taken by Bill Anders from Apollo 8 in orbit around the Moon in 1968 is probably a more famous, higher resolution and certainly more influential picture, but it only shows a fraction of the moon in the foreground.

Like Earthrise though, Voyager 1’s first picture of the entire Earth and Moon was not a scheduled or pre-planned part of the mission. Though in both cases the impact is huge.

This picture of the tiny fragile Earth and neighbouring moon hanging in the infinite blackness doesn’t feel real. It’s hard to view the Earth from this angle.

The moon looks close, but you can fit all 7 other planets of the solar system - including all the gas giants, between the Earth and the Moon.

Voyager 1 would take more impactful, bonus pictures as it left the solar system in 1990 and turned it’s camera back again to take the family portrait which included Pale Blue Dot, muse to Carl Sagan’s beautiful exhortation to our tiny planet.

There’s really no other question to ask students here, other than how does it make them feel?

-Bill