For some basic science, what are the small white dots on the poster of "The Wandering Earth 2"?

Recently, the movie "The Wandering Earth 2" released a "Little White Dot" trailer and a "Drop in the Ocean" poster. The poster expands the vision to the boundless universe, with a small white dot shining like a star. There is also a line of small words on the poster - "This little white dot is everything to us."

What exactly is this "little white dot"? Is it fictional? Let Zhu Jin, a researcher at the Beijing Planetarium, explain it to you!

"The 'little white dot' is not fictional, but a photo of the Earth taken by the American probe Voyager 1 on February 14, 1990, when it turned its lens while flying toward the edge of the solar system." Zhu Jin, a researcher at the Beijing Planetarium, told Science Times that in a set of "family portraits" of the solar system taken by Voyager 1, this 'little white dot' only occupies 0.12 pixels in one of the photos, but it is the home of all mankind.

The "little white dot" was photographed by the man-made probe Voyager 1 on February 14, 1990. Image source: NASA

"You can imagine that all the life and all the people we know in the entire universe live on this very small dot," Zhu Jin said with emotion.

However, it is on this "little white dot" that humans are exploring the vast unknown universe with the help of deep space probes.

"Voyager 1 has been traveling in space for nearly 45 years and is now flying farther and farther into the inner solar system. It has flown about 200 astronomical units, which is 200 times the distance from the Earth to the Sun." Zhu Jin said that if everything goes well, it will take about tens of thousands of years for Voyager 1 to leave our solar system.

Voyager 1. Image credit: NASA

"Deep space exploration is a commanding height in aerospace," said Wu Weiren, chief designer of China's lunar exploration project, in an interview, because it is at the forefront in terms of technical difficulty, scale and scientific contribution.

Deep space exploration refers to exploration that leaves the Earth's gravitational field and enters the solar system and the universe. According to the definition in the white paper "China's Spaceflight" released in 2000, China refers to space exploration activities conducted on celestial bodies outside the Earth as deep space exploration. The main research objects of deep space exploration are generally from near to far. my country's deep space exploration started with lunar exploration. The three-step lunar exploration project of "orbiting, landing, and returning" has been successfully completed. The planetary exploration project has also kicked off with the successful completion of Tianwen-1.

Wu Weiren said that my country is also preparing to conduct cross-planet exploration of other planets in the solar system in the future. For example, it is considering whether it is possible to explore Venus and near-Earth asteroids that threaten the Earth, and to achieve early warning, defense, and disposal of them. At present, some tasks have been included in the planning and demonstration. "Looking further ahead, my country's deep space exploration hopes to achieve 'two 100s': in 2049, the 100th anniversary of the founding of New China, to achieve exploration of the edge of the solar system beyond 100 astronomical units (15 billion kilometers)."

Source: Popular Science Times

Author: He Peiqin

Editor: Wu Tong

Review: Wang Fei

Final judge: Chen Lei