Contents of the Voyager Golden Record
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Contents of the Voyager Golden Record join a community of galactic civilizations. This record represents our hope and our determina- tion and our goodwill in a vast and awesome universe.[4] 1 Greetings The first audio section contains a spoken greeting in En- glish from then-Secretary General of the UN, Kurt Wald- heim. The second audio section (“Greetings in 55 Languages”) [5] A copy of the record on display at the Udvar-Hazy Center in contains spoken greetings in 55 languages, including Washington Dulles International Airport four Chinese varieties (marked with **), 12 South Asian languages (marked #) and five ancient languages (marked The Voyager Golden Record contains 115 images plus a §), listed here in alphabetical order: calibration image and a variety of natural sounds, such Later audio sections contain the spoken greetings in as those made by surf, wind, and thunder, and ani- the remaining four languages, including Esperanto and mal sounds, including the songs of birds and whales. !Kung. The whale sounds were provided by Roger The record additionally features musical selections from Payne.[7] different cultures and eras, spoken greetings in fifty- This is a list of the recorded greetings in order of appear- nine languages,[1][2] and printed messages from President ance on their respective tracks.[8] Jimmy Carter and U.N. Secretary-General Kurt Wald- heim. The items were selected for NASA by a committee chaired by Carl Sagan of Cornell University. After NASA had received criticism over the nudity on 2 Sounds the Pioneer plaque (line drawings of a naked man and woman), the agency chose not to allow Sagan and his The next audio section is devoted to the “sounds of Earth” colleagues to include a photograph of a nude man and that include:[13] woman on the record. Instead, only a silhouette of the couple was included.[3] Included within the Sounds of Earth audio portion of the Golden Record is a track containing the inspirational Here is an excerpt of President Carter’s official statement message per aspera ad astra in Morse Code. Translated placed on the Voyager spacecraft for its trip outside the from Latin, it means, through hardships to the stars. Solar System, June 16, 1977: We cast this message into the cosmos ... Of the 200 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy, 3 Music some – perhaps many – may have inhabited planets and space faring civilizations. If one such civilization intercepts Voyager and can Following the section on the sounds of Earth, there is understand these recorded contents, here is our an eclectic 90-minute selection of music from many cul- message: This is a present from a small distant tures, including Eastern and Western classics. The selec- world, a token of our sounds, our science, our tions include: images, our music, our thoughts, and our feel- Sagan had originally asked for permission to include ings. We are attempting to survive our time "Here Comes the Sun" from the Beatles’ album Abbey so we may live into yours. We hope some Road. While the Beatles favoured it, EMI opposed it and day, having solved the problems we face, to the song was not included.[16] 1 2 7 NOTES AND REFERENCES 4 Brainwaves • Pioneer plaque • Time capsule The Golden Record also carried an hour long recording of the brainwaves of Ann Druyan, who would later marry Carl Sagan. In the Epilogue of the book Billions and Bil- lions, she describes the experience: 7 Notes and references Earlier I had asked Carl if those putative Notes extraterrestrials of a billion years from now could conceivably interpret the brain waves of [1] Somewhat loose translation; per NASA. a meditator. Who knows? A billion years is a long, long time, was his reply. On the chance References that it might be possible why don't we give it a try? [1] Sagan, Carl (1994). Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Two days after our life-changing phone Future in Space (1st ed.). New York: Random House. call, I entered a laboratory at Bellevue Hospi- ISBN 9780679438410. tal in New York City and was hooked up to a computer that turned all the data from my brain [2] “Traveller’s Tales [Carl Sagan Tribute Series, S01E16]". and heart into sound. I had a one-hour mental Retrieved February 10, 2012. itinerary of the information I wished to con- [3] Jon Lomberg: “Pictures of Earth”. in Carl Sagan: Mur- vey. I began by thinking about the history of murs of Earth, 1978, New York, ISBN 0-679-74444-4 Earth and the life it sustains. To the best of my abilities I tried to think something of the his- [4] http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=7890 tory of ideas and human social organization. [5] “Greetings to the Universe in 55 Different Languages”. I thought about the predicament that our civ- NASA. Retrieved September 6, 2006. ilization finds itself in and about the violence and poverty that make this planet a hell for so [6] “Voyager(Languages): Armenian”. Retrieved August 24, many of its inhabitants. Toward the end I per- 2011. mitted myself a personal statement of what it [7] Gambino, Megan (April 23, 2012). “What Is on Voyager’s [17] was like to fall in love. Golden Record?". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 19 November 2012. On February 12, 2010, an interview with Ann Druyan [8] “Voyager: Greetings in 55 languages”. Retrieved March was aired on National Public Radio (NPR) during which 14, 2011. the above was explained in more detail.[18] [9] “The Voyager Interstellar Record – 3/31 UN Greetings Whale Greetings”. Retrieved February 10, 2012. 5 Images [10] Sagan, Carl (1978). Murmurs of Earth: The Voyager In- terstellar Record. ISBN 0345315367. Along with the audio, the record contains a collection of [11] https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BERgXvxCYAAJN3h. 116 pictures (one of which is for calibration) detailing but jpg:large not limited to human life on earth and the planet itself. Many pictures are annotated with one or many indications [12] Sternberg, Janet (29 Apr 2013). "[Armenian Voyager of scales of time, size or mass. Some images also contain Golden Record greetings by Araxy Terzian]". Twitter. indications of chemical composition. All measures used Retrieved 17 October 2015. on the pictures are first defined in the first few images [13] “Voyager – Spacecraft – Golden Record – Sounds of using physical references. Earth”. NASA. Retrieved August 17, 2008. Following is a list of all the images contained in the Voy- [14] Linich, Carl (19 March 2008). “Ilia Zakaidze”. Georgian ager Golden Record together with, when copyright per- Folk Singing. Retrieved 9 October 2013. mits, the actual image, a description of the nature of the image and what annotations were included in them.[19] [15] “Voyager 1977 - Georgian folk song “Chakrulo” in space - "ჩაკრულო" კოსმოსში". Youtube (interview with An- zor Erkomaishvili and others) (in Georgian). Retrieved 9 6 See also October 2013. [16] Sagan, Carl et al. (1978) Murmurs of Earth: The Voyager • Voyager Golden Record Interstellar Record. New York: Random House. ISBN 0- 394-41047-5 (hardcover), ISBN 0-345-28396-1 (paper- • Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence back) 3 [17] Sagan, Carl (1997). Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium. Random House. ISBN 0-679-41160-7. [18] Carl Sagan And Ann Druyan’s Ultimate Mix Tape [19] “Greetings to the Universe in 55 Different Languages”. NASA. Retrieved May 26, 2010. [20] “Great Smokies National Park: Solitude for Millions”. National Geographic Society. [21] “House interior with artist and fire”. NASA. 8 External links • Official NASA JPL page about the Golden Record • Multimedia showcase with the contents of the Golden Record • Voyager Golden Record – all images, languages, and sounds – re-lab.net • The Infinite Voyager : The Golden Record - built by Lily Bui from MIT • Voyager 1 Audio on Internet Archive • Official Nasa Soundcloud page with sounds from Golden Record 4 9 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES 9 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses 9.1 Text • Contents of the Voyager Golden Record Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contents_of_the_Voyager_Golden_Record?oldid= 699416853 Contributors: Kinnerc, Nikola Smolenski, Hyacinth, Grendelkhan, Wiki Wikardo, Evertype, Icairns, GreenReaper, O'Dea, YUL89YYZ, Mykhal, Kwamikagami, Tgeller, Dimi z, Angr, Woohookitty, Steinbach, BD2412, Koavf, Quiddity, Jfiling, Korg, 334a, Shervinafshar, EamonnPKeane, RadioFan, Jugander, Lockesdonkey, Philip Stevens, SmackBot, Koika, Chris the speller, Not Sure, Es- prix, Kandschwar, Huji, Huon, PiMaster3, Rdgambola~enwiki, Triacylglyceride, Valepert, Mr Stephen, Alexzr88, Amakuru, Morganfitzp, CBM, Cydebot, Garik, Cimbalom, Mojo Hand, JustAGal, Nick Number, Sujoyrc, Hekerui, Fallschirmjäger, JaGa, Irvdel, R'n'B, Com- monsDelinker, Adavidb, TomS TDotO, Hemeier, Hybernator, Angellily~enwiki, Natg 19, Kaiketsu, Thanatos666, GirasoleDE, Shreyash02, Beccaviola, Mr. Granger, Hongthay, Hm29168, Addbot, Dafyddt, Douglas the Comeback Kid, Yobot, Nisf, FreeRangeFrog, Souravzzz, Cresix, Goodbye Galaxy, ZodKneelsFirst, Myrat, අඛිල, Adnyre, RoyalAconite, Slkiani, Tinss, GoingBatty, Tjr1221, Alpha Quadrant, Ὁ οἶστρος, Alpha Quadrant (alt), BNSF1995, F. F. Fjodor, Surajt88, Fanyavizuri, बहिर्जी नाईक, ClueBot NG, Jorge Morejón, Editør, Wbm1058, Gob Lofa, Wasbeer, Nowhere14, NotWith, Robyn2000, Kodiologist, Spetsnaz1991, Joshtaco, Tommytongflare, Mutley1989, WKrepeditor, Finnusertop, Earth Resident, Plkdsa231, Neptunia, Janavar, Vieque, Call me PI., Jay Nicorvo, Laopi Tongzhi, Ar Po, DABabcock9, Are you freaking kidding me, BBJS, Wizeu and Anonymous: 97 9.2 Images • File:Adams_The_Tetons_and_the_Snake_River.jpg