Here are the official versions for several of these looking-back-at-Earth photos: “Earthrise” from the Moon, “Pale Blue Dot” from beyond Pluto, “The Day the Earth Smiled” from Saturn, The Evening Star from Mars, Earth and Moon from Mars.

Voyager gathered our first detailed knowledge of the outer solar system, and the first views of Earth from the doorstep of interstellar space, some 4 billion miles away. While not as distant, Kepler’s mission is no less profound. We have learned for the first time that nearly every star in our Galaxy hosts a planet, and many of them are small and dense like our own. This is a monumental leap forward in our search for life and our place in the cosmos.

Amazingly, Kepler has also pushed the frontiers of science in many areas besides exoplanets, including asteroseismology, stellar rotation, stellar magnetic activity, supernovae, and discovering many new types of variable stars — some which still defy explanation! With each of these discoveries, each of the thousands of scientific of papers written, people have invested years of time. Many young scientists like myself have built much of their careers on the data and discoveries that Kepler has provided.

The Kepler spacecraft is now running low on fuel, and the K2 mission is not expected to extend far beyond this year. That makes this image especially personal: a reflection on the past 8 years of my career, on the choices I made mid-PhD to drop what I was working on and pursue an entirely different thesis project, on the friendships and journeys I have been on because of this mission. The final Kepler/K2 Science Conference this summer ended with a “Farewell” of sorts, which was an emotional conclusion for the researchers in attendance. The image we’ll capture in December, however, is for everyone: scientist and citizen alike.

For more information, visit WaveAtKepler.space