December 26, 1996
You were born on a tiny world orbiting an ordinary star in an unremarkable galaxy — and yet, the fact that you exist at all is the most...
Carl Sagan 1934-1996
Birthday · December 26, 1996
A little universe, just for you
Your date.
Ready to give.
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APOD published December 26, 1996. Credit: 1994 by Michael Okoniewski. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Carl Sagan died last Friday at the age of 62. Sagan was the world's most famous astronomer. Among his many activities as a scientist, he contributed to the discovery that the atmosphere of Venus is prohibitively hot and dense, and found evidence that Saturn's moon Titan contains oceans stocked with the building blocks of life. Sagan was an outspoken proponent of the search for extra-terrestrial life, including sending probes to other planets and listening with large radio telescopes for signals from intelligent aliens. Sagan's outstanding ability to explain allowed almost a billion people to better understand the cosmos in which they live.
Image credit: 1994 by Michael Okoniewski