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The photo below might be a little grainy, a little underexposed — but if you look at it through the eyes of a Star Trek historian, its significance couldn't be clearer.

A VFX artist looks over a model of the Enterprise that was used in 1979's 'Star Trek The Motion Picture.' Image: Courtesy of Roddenberry Entertainment

In the picture, an unidentified person who worked on 1979's Star Trek the Motion Picture is inspecting an enormous, highly impressive model of the Enterprise that was used for special effects shots. As Trevor Roth, COO of Roddenberry Entertainment, puts it: "I think that's just an achievement to have created." It's also something that helps to put into context the effort and detailed work that went into the film.

Not many have seen the photo before today. In fact, the company is sharing it widely here for the first time.

It's among the hundreds of archival pieces from Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry's personal annals that are being unearthed and shared this year for the franchise's upcoming 50th anniversary.

They call it Project 366. Back in January, Roddenberry Entertainment began sharing rare photos and documents on its Facebook page in order to mark the occasion. Already, the company has posted everything from network memos to personal letters sent from celebrities like Lucille Ball.

Roddenberry's family and the company's team have spent a considerable amount of time combing through the "treasure trove," as Roth calls it, to find the best things to share.

"Gene kept everything, but one of the difficult parts about this is that he kept every thing," he says with a laugh. "He was fantastic about keeping things that were meaningful to his work and to Star Trek ... I wouldn't say he was a great record-keeper from the standpoint of organization, necessarily."

As a ten-year employee of Roddenberry, though, Roth admits to geeking out himself over some of the finds. He also says there's much more to come, both from this project and others.

Star Trek's 50th year is also shaping up to be a big one in other ways as well: Tuesday morning it was announced that CBS will be sponsoring TED talk-esque Trek Talks later this year. The next big-screen Trek film, Star Trek Beyond, debuts in July. And CBS announced a few months back that a new Star Trek series will be coming to its digital service in 2017.

Roddenberry Entertainment says it hopes to be "heavily" involved with the new series, but the details are still being worked out.

"I think the fact that Star Trek has been able to evolve over time with people and still be pertinent and relevant is its genius," Roth says.