"I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote."

That quote from Moby Dick, perhaps more than anything else, best explains a fantastic and inspirational new short film called "Wanderers." In less than four minutes, the film takes you on a stunningly beautiful journey across our solar system. But this is no space documentary; it's a thoughtful and perceptive dream of what our corner of the universe would look like if we were to expand beyond planet Earth.

Touch the stars

"Wanderers" comes from Swedish animator and digital artist Erik Wernquist, and it's the product of careful scouring of the NASA archives to piece together realistic portrayals of our neighboring planets. Wernquist has published a detailed explanation of his work that reveals where the inspiration and imagery for each scene came from. (It also includes high-res stills — perfect for your next sci-fi desktop background!).

The legendary Carl Sagan narrates the short film — Wernquist pulled an old audio clip of Sagan reading his 1994 book Pale Blue Dot and layered it over the video. We must say, it's a perfect match. While "Wanderers" doesn't have a traditional story, the visuals and score (paired with Sagan's words) will make you, too, dream of the day when we become a multi-planetary species.