Celebrating Voyager 1, with Carolyn Porco

About This Episode

On Feb. 14, 1990, Voyager 1 looked back at our solar system and took the famous “Pale Blue Dot” image. This week on StarTalk All-Stars, host and planetary scientist Carolyn Porco welcomes co-host Maeve Higgins, “Bad-ass Science Groupie” Sean Ono Lennon, and filmmaker Emer Reynolds to look back on one of the greatest endeavors in history, documented in Emer’s new film, The Farthest. You’ll hear about Emer’s filmmaking process: how long it took to bring the idea to fruition, her experiences interviewing the Voyager 1 team, her thoughts on the narrative structure, and what she found most surprising as she made the documentary about the nearly 40-year-long mission that’s logged over 12 billion miles. Find out why Sean believes you should see The Farthest on the big screen, and how he would crowdsource the “playlist” if he were in charge of putting together Voyager’s Golden Record today. Carolyn reflects on being a part of the Voyager mission and working with Carl Sagan, gives an update on a possible mission to Enceladus, and explains why she’s in favor of having microscopes on spacecraft. You’ll also explore the relationship between scientists and the press and find out why Carolyn thinks instantaneous media puts a strain on scientific accuracy in reporting. All that, plus, Carolyn and company take live Cosmic Queries from fans across the country.

NOTE: All-Access subscribers can listen to this entire episode commercial-free here: Celebrating Voyager 1, with Carolyn Porco