It’s November 9 again and that means it’s time to almost forget about Carl Sagan Day like almost every year and get reminded by someone on the internet about it. But Carl Sagan’s birthday should be celebrated, especially here in Germany where this day unfortunately has quite a few negative historic connections and it feels like we need to be reminded of something more positive and encouraging. Sagan, who sadly passed away in 1996, has become more popular than ever since last year, when his seminal 1980 science blockbuster documentary Cosmos was re-imagined as Cosmos – A Spacetime Odyssey with Neil deGrasse Tyson, but with Carl still a part of it in spirit. Demystifiying science and invoking a sense of wonder that seems to be all but lost nowadays are still the most important goals every scientist and everyone interested in science should have.

In 2013, Ryan Consell from Mad Art Lab and whole group of people who embody the spirit of Carl Sagan created a wonderful crowdsourced reading of his Pale Blue Dot, which I’ve embedded here again this year.