Fort Lauderdale, Florida, hosted the first Carl Sagan Day in 2009—a tradition that now inspires stargazers across the globe.

The universe hums with creation. Featured here, in the Lagoon Nebula, a cluster called NGC 6530 is kindling newborn stars, a glowing reminder that beginnings are woven into the fabric of the cosmos. About 4,350 light-years away and a few million years old, it is a stellar formation still in its earliest chapter.

The world celebrates Carl Sagan Day every November 9 to honor the astronomer who shared distant wonders through stories people could understand. Founded in 2009, the day is observed worldwide, marked by lectures, planetarium shows, and stargazing nights that carry Sagan's call for scientific curiosity.

Carl Sagan's legacy stretches from NASA's Voyager missions and the Golden Record to his Cosmos television series, inspiring millions to see science as both reason and a source of endless possibilities. At Cornell University, home to the Carl Sagan Institute, his vision continues through the search for habitable worlds and the celebration of cosmic discovery. In the night sky, NGC 6530 offers a fitting tribute: a nursery of suns forming within clouds of gas and dust, echoing Sagan's reminder that 'We are made of star stuff.'