|
Plaques, Pictures
The Voyager Golden Record is a phonograph record included in the two Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977. It contains sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth. more...
 Home
Cultures, Ethnicities
Decorative Collectibles
 All God's Children
Andrea by Sadek
ANRI
Armani
Avon
Bing & Grondahl Coll Plates
Blue Sky Clayworks
Boyds
Bradford Exchange
Byers Choice
Cat's Meow Village
Charming Tails
Christopher Radko
Danbury Mint
David Winter
Dept 56
Dreamsicles
Duncan Royale
Enesco
Faberge
Fitz & Floyd
Flambro
Franklin Mint
Halcyon Days
Hallmark
Hamilton Collector Plates
Harbour Lights
Harmony Kingdom
HOMCO
Hummel, Goebel
Josef
Knowles Collector Plates
Lefton Figurines
Lenox
Liberty Falls
Lilliput Lane
Limoges
Lladro
Longaberger
Madame Alexander
Margaret Furlong
Mary Engelbreit
 Apparel & Accessories
Mixed Lots
Ornaments
Other Items
Plaques, Pictures
Teapots & Tea Sets
Midwest of Cannon Falls
Norman Rockwell
Old World
Other Brands
PartyLite
Patricia Breen
Pendelfin
Polonaise
Precious Moments
Rein Poortvliet
Roman
Royal Copenhagen Coll Plates
Royal Doulton
San Francisco Music Box
Sarah's Attic
Schmid
Sebastian Miniatures
Shelia's
Slavic Treasures
Swarovski
Thomas Kinkade
Tom Clark
Unbranded
Wade Figurines
Wedgwood
Willitts
Willow Tree
Holiday, Seasonal
Religions, Spirituality
It is intended for any intelligent extraterrestrial life form, or far future humans, that may find it. The Voyager spacecraft will take about 40,000 years to come near another star, 'near' meaning in this case within around 1.7 light-years' distance; hence, if other beings do not come in the direction of the spacecraft to meet them, it will take at least that long for the Golden Record to be found.
As the probes are extremely small compared to the vastness of interstellar space, it is extraordinarily unlikely that they will ever be intercepted. If they are ever found by an alien species, it will be far in the future and the aliens may not even have technology able to play the record or the biology to see or feel the images, and thus the record is best seen as a symbolic statement rather than a serious attempt to communicate with aliens.
Background
As of 2006, the Voyager spacecraft will be the third and fourth human artifacts to escape entirely from the solar system. Pioneers 10 and 11, which were launched in 1972 and 1973 and preceded Voyager in outstripping the gravitational attraction of the Sun, both carried small metal plaques identifying their time and place of origin for the benefit of any other spacefarers that might find them in the distant future.
With this example before them, NASA placed a more comprehensive (and eclectic) message aboard Voyager 1 and 2 — a kind of time capsule, intended to communicate a story of our world to extraterrestrials.
This is a present from a small, distant world, a token of our sounds, our science, our images, our music, our thoughts and our feelings. We are attempting to survive our time so we may live into yours. ― U.S. President Jimmy Carter.
Recording cover diagram
Contents
The contents of the record were selected for NASA by a committee chaired by Carl Sagan of Cornell University. Dr. Sagan and his associates assembled 115 images and a variety of natural sounds, such as those made by surf, wind, and thunder, and animal sounds, including the songs of birds and whales. To this they added musical selections from different cultures and eras, and spoken greetings from Earthlings in fifty-five languages, and printed messages from President Jimmy Carter and U.N. Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim.
After NASA had received much criticism over the "smut" on the Pioneer plaque (line drawings of a naked man and woman), the agency chose not to allow Sagan and his colleagues to include a photograph of a nude man and a nude, pregnant woman on the record. Instead, only a silhouette of the couple was included.
Read more at Wikipedia.org
|
|
