- Contents of the Voyager Golden Record
-
A copy of the record on display at the Udvar-Hazy Center in Washington Dulles International Airport
The contents of the Voyager Golden Record is a collection of 116 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, spoken greetings in fifty-five languages, and printed messages from President Jimmy Carter and U.N. Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim. 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 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 woman on the record. Instead, only a silhouette of the couple was included.[1]
Here is an excerpt of President Carter's official statement placed on the Voyager spacecraft for its trip outside our solar system, June 16, 1977:
We cast this message into the cosmos ... Of the 200 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy, some — perhaps many — may have inhabited planets and space faring civilizations. If one such civilization intercepts Voyager and can understand these recorded contents, here is our message: We are trying to survive our time so we may live into yours. We hope some day, having solved the problems we face, to join a community of Galactic Civilizations. This record represents our hope and our determination and our goodwill in a vast and awesome universe.
Contents
Greetings
The first audio section contains spoken greetings in the following 55 languages,[2] including 4 Chinese dialects (marked with **), 12 South Asian languages (marked #) and 5 ancient languages (marked §) listed here in alphabetical order:
This is a list of the recorded greetings as they appear on the track[4]:
Time Language Original English translation 0:00:00 Sumerian May all be well 0:00:04 Greek Greetings to you, whoever you are. We come in friendship to those who are friends 0:00:11 Portuguese Paz e felicidade a todos Peace and happiness to everyone 0:00:14 Cantonese 各位好嗎？祝各位平安健康快樂。 How's everyone? Wish you peace, health and happiness 0:00:19 Akkadian May all be very well 0:00:22 Russian Здравствуйте! Приветствую Вас! Greetings! I Welcome You! 0:00:25 Thai สวัสดีค่ะ สหายในธรณีโพ้น พวกเราในธรณีนี้ขอส่งมิตรจิตรมาถึงท่านทุกคน Hello friends from farland. We in this land have sent you warm greeting to you all 0:00:32 Arabic .تحياتنا للأصدقاء في النجوم. يا ليتى يجمعنا الزمان Taḥiyyātunā lil-'aṣdiqā' fil-nujūm. Yā laytā yajma`unā al-zamān. Greetings to our friends in the stars. We wish that we will meet you someday 0:00:38 Romanian Salutări la toată lumea Regards to everyone 0:00:42 French Bonjour tout le monde Hello everyone 0:00:45 Burmese Are you well 0:00:48 Hebrew שלום Shalom Hello / Peace 0:00:50 Spanish Hola y saludos a todos Hello and greetings to everyone 0:00:54 Indonesian Selamat malam hadirin sekalian, selamat berpisah dan sampai bertemu lagi dilain waktu Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Goodbye and see you next time 0:00:59 Kechua (Quechua) Hello to everybody from this Earth, in Kechua language 0:01:04 Punjabi Welcome home. It is a pleasure to receive you 0:01:07 Hittite Hail 0:01:08 Bengali Hello! Let there be peace everywhere 0:01:11 Latin Salvete quicumque estis; bonam ergo vos voluntatem habemus, et pacem per astra ferimus Greetings to you, whoever you are; we have good will towards you and bring peace across space 0:01:19 Aramaic Shlomo Peace 0:01:22 Dutch Hartelijke groeten aan iedereen Dear/sincere greetings to everyone 0:01:24 German Herzliche Grüße an alle Warm greetings to everyone 0:01:27 Urdu Peace on you. We the inhabitants of this earth send our greetings to you 0:01:37 Vietnamese Chân thành gửi tới các bạn lời chào thân thương Sincere greetings to you 0:01:40 Turkish Sayın Türkçe bilen arkadaşlarımız, sabah şerifleriniz hayrolsun Dear Turkish-speaking friends, may the honors of the morning be upon your heads 0:01:45 Japanese 今日は。お元気ですか？ Konnichiwa. O genki desu ka? Hello. How are you? 0:01:48 Hindi Greetings from the inhabitants of this world 0:01:51 Welsh Iechyd da i chwi yn awr, ac i'r oesoedd Good health to you now and forever 0:01:54 Italian Tanti auguri e saluti Many greetings and wishes 0:01:57 Sinhalese ආයුබෝවන් (you may) Long live 0:02:00 Nguni (Zulu) We greet you, great ones. We wish you longevity 0:02:05 Sotho (Sesotho) We greet you, O great ones 0:02:08 Wu Best wishes to you all 0:02:12 Armenian[3] Բոլոր անոնց, որ կգտնվին տիեզերգի միգամածությունեն անդին ոխջույններ To all those who exist in the universe, greetings 0:02:19 Korean 안녕하세요 How are you? 0:02:22 Polish Witajcie, istoty z zaświatów Welcome, creatures from beyond the outer world 0:02:25 Nepali Wishing you a peaceful future from the earthlings 0:02:29 Mandarin Chinese 各位都好吧？我们都很想念你们，有空请到这来玩。 How's everyone? We all very much wish to meet you, if you're free please come and visit 0:02:35 Ila (Zambia) We wish all of you well 0:02:38 Swedish Hälsningar från en dataprogrammerare i den lilla universitetsstaden Ithaka på planeten Jorden Greetings from a computer programmer in the small university town of Ithaka on (the) planet Earth 0:02:45 Nyanja How are all you people of other planets? 0:02:48 Gujarati Greetings from a human being of the Earth. Please contact 0:03:03 Ukrainian Пересилаємо привіт із нашого світу, бажаємо щастя, здоров'я і многая літа We are sending greetings from our world, wishing you happiness, goodness, good health and many years 0:03:09 Persian Hello to the residents of far skies 0:03:22 Serbian Желимо вам све најбоље са наше планете We wish you all the best, from our planet 0:03:25 Oriya Greetings to the inhabitants of the universe from the third planet Earth of the star Sun 0:03:34 Ganda (Luanda) Greetings to all peoples of the universe. God give you peace always 0:03:38 Marathi नमस्कार. ह्या पृथ्वीतील लोक तुम्हाला त्यांचे शुभविचार पाठवतात आणि त्यांची इच्छा आहे की तुम्ही ह्या जन्मी धन्य व्हा. Greetings. The people of the Earth send their good wishes 0:03:47 Amoy (Min dialect) Friends of space, how are you all? Have you eaten yet? Come visit us if you have time 0:03:55 Hungarian (Magyar) Üdvözletet küldünk magyar nyelven minden békét szerető lénynek a Világegyetemen We are sending greetings in the Hungarian language to all peace-loving beings on the Universe 0:04:01 Telugu Greetings. Best wishes from Telugu-speaking people 0:04:05 Czech Drazí přátelé, přejeme vám to nejlepší Dear Friends, we wish you the best 0:04:08 Kannada (Kanarese) Greetings. On behalf of Kannada-speaking people, 'good wishes' 0:04:12 Rajasthani Hello to everyone. We are happy here and you be happy there 0:04:18 English Hello from the children of planet Earth Hello from the children of planet Earth Sounds
The next audio section is devoted to the "sounds of Earth" that include[5]:
- "Music of the Spheres" - a translation into audible sound of random signals received from various NASA spacecraft around the solar system.
- Volcanoes, Earthquake, Thunder
- Mud Pots
- Wind, Rain, Surf
- Crickets, Frogs
- Birds, Hyena, Elephant
- Whale song
- Chimpanzee
- Wild Dog[disambiguation needed
] - Footsteps, Heartbeat, Laughter
- The First Tools
Included within the Sounds of Earth audio portion of the Golden Record is a track containing the inspirational message per aspera ad astra in Morse Code. Translated from Latin, it means, through hardships to the stars.
Music
Following the section on the sounds of Earth, there is an eclectic 90-minute selection of music from many cultures, including Eastern and Western classics. The selections include:
Country Piece Author Performer(s) Recorded or collected by Genre of music Length Germany Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F. First Movement Bach Munich Bach Orchestra conducted by Karl Richter Chamber orchestra 4:40 Indonesia "Puspawarna" ("Kinds of Flowers") Mangkunegara IV Court gamelan of Pura Paku Alaman directed by K.R.T. Wasitodipuro Robert E. Brown Gamelan 4:43 Senegal Senegalese percussion Charles Duvelle Percussion 2:08 Zaire Pygmy girls' initiation song Colin Turnbull 0:56 Australia "Morning Star" and "Devil Bird" Sandra LeBrun Holmes Aboriginal songs 1:26 Mexico "El Cascabel" Lorenzo Barcelata Antonio Maciel y Las Aguilillas with El Mariachi México de Pepe Villa 3:14 United States "Johnny B. Goode" Chuck Berry Chuck Berry Rock and roll 2:03 New Guinea Men's house song Robert MacLennan 1:20 Japan "Tsuru No Sugomori" 《鶴の巣籠り》 ("Crane's Nest") Goro Yamaguchi Shakuhachi 4:51 Germany/Belgium "Gavotte en rondeaux" from the Partita No. 3 in E major for Violin Bach Arthur Grumiaux Violin 2:55 Austria/Germany Die Zauberflöte, Queen of the Night aria No. 14 Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen Mozart Edda Moser (soprano) from the Bavarian State Opera, conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch Opera 2:55 Georgia "Tchakrulo" Georgian Folk Radio Moscow Chorus 2:18 Peru El Cóndor Pasa Daniel Alomia Robles Casa de la Cultura, Lima Panpipes and drum 0:52 United States "Melancholy Blues" Marty Bloom, Walter Melrose Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven Jazz 3:05 Azerbaijan "Mugam" Radio Moscow Balaban 2:30 Russia/France/United States The Rite of Spring, Sacrificial Dance Stravinsky Columbia Symphony Orchestra conducted by Igor Stravinsky 4:35 Germany/Canada The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2, Prelude and Fugue No.1 in C major Bach Glenn Gould Kevin Doyle Piano 4:48 Germany/United Kingdom Fifth Symphony, First Movement Beethoven Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Otto Klemperer 7:20 Bulgaria "Излел е Делю хайдутин" ("Izlel je Delyo Hajdutin") Valya Balkanska Ethel Rain and Martin Koenig Bulgarian traditional song 4:59 United States Night Chant Navajo Tribe Willard Rhodes 0:57 United Kingdom "The Faerie Round" from Pavans, Galliards, Almains and Other Short Aeirs Anthony Holborne David Munrow and the Early Music Consort of London 1:17 Solomon Islands Solomon Islands Broadcasting Service Panpipes 1:12 Peru Wedding song John Cohen 0:38 China "Liu Shui" 《流水》 ("Flowing Streams") Bo Ya Kuan P'ing-hu Guqin 7:37 India "Jaat Kahan Ho" Kesarbai Kerkar Raga Bhairavi 3:30 United States "Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground" Blind Willie Johnson Blind Willie Johnson Blues 3:15 Germany/Hungary Cavatina from the String Quartet No. 13 in B flat, Opus 130 Beethoven Budapest String Quartet String Quartet 6:37 - Johann Sebastian Bach is the most represented artist, appearing three times, and, with the addition of two pieces by Beethoven, make Germany the most represented country with six appearances, followed by the United States.
Sagan had originally asked for permission to include "Here Comes the Sun" from the Beatles' album Abbey Road. While the Beatles favoured it, EMI opposed it and the song was not included.[6]
Brainwaves
The Golden Records 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 Billions, she describes the experience:
Earlier I had asked Carl if those putative extraterrestrials of a billion years from now could conceivably interpret the brain waves of a meditator. Who knows? A billion years is a long, long time, was his reply. On the chance that it might be possible why don't we give it a try? Two days after our life-changing phone call, I entered a laboratory at Bellevue Hospital in New York City and was hooked up to a computer that turned all the data from my brain and heart into sound. I had a one-hour mental itinerary of the information I wished to convey. I began by thinking about the history of Earth and the life it sustains. To the best of my abilities I tried to think something of the history of ideas and human social organization. I thought about the predicament that our civilization finds itself in and about the violence and poverty that make this planet a hell for so many of its inhabitants. Toward the end I permitted myself a personal statement of what it was like to fall in love.[7]On February 12, 2010, an interview with Ann Druyan was aired on National Public Radio (NPR) during which the above was explained in more detail.[8]
Images
Along with the audio the record contains a collection of 116 pictures (one of which is for calibration) detailing but not limited to human life on earth and the planet itself. Many pictures are annotated with one or many indications of scales of time, size or mass. Some images also contain indications of chemical composition. All measures used on the pictures are first defined in the first few images using physical references.
Following is a list of all the images contained in the Voyager Golden Record together with, when copyright permits, the actual image, a description of the nature of the image and what annotations were included in them.[9]
Position Thumbnail Description Type Annotations 1 Calibration circle Black and white diagram 2 Solar location map Black and white diagram 3 Mathematical definitions Black and white text 4 Physical unit definitions Black and white text 5 Solar system parameters Black and white text 6 Solar system parameters Black and white text 7 The Sun Black and white image 8 
Solar spectrum Color image 9 
Mercury Black and white image 10 
Mars Black and white image Size 11 
Jupiter Color image Size 12 
Earth Color image Size 13 
Egypt, Red Sea, Sinai Peninsula and the Nile Color image Chemical composition 14 Chemical definitions Color diagram Size 15 DNA Structure Color diagram Size 16 DNA Structure magnified, light hit Color diagram Size 17 Cells and cell division Black and white image Size 18 Anatomy 1 (Skeleton front) Color diagram 19 Anatomy 2 (Internal organs front) Color diagram 20 Anatomy 3 (Skeleton and muscles back) Color diagram 21 Anatomy 4 (Internal organs back) Color diagram 22 Anatomy 5 (Ribcage) Color diagram 23 Anatomy 6 (Muscles front) Color diagram Size 24 Anatomy 7 (Heart, lungs, kidneys and main blood vessels back) Color diagram 25 Anatomy 8 (Heart, lungs, kidneys and main blood vessels front) Color diagram 26 Human sex organs Black and white diagram Size 27 Diagram of conception Black and white diagram Size, time 28 Conception Color image 29 Fertilized ovum Black and white image Time 30 Fetus diagram Black and white diagram Size, time 31 Fetus Color image 32 Diagram of male and female Black and white diagram Size, time 33 Birth Black and white image 34 Nursing mother Color image 35 Father and daughter (Malaysia) Color image 36 Group of children Color image 37 Diagram of family ages Black and white diagram Mass, time 38 Family portrait Black and white image 39 Diagram of continental drift Black and white diagram Time 40 Structure of the Earth Black and white diagram Size, chemical composition 41 Heron Island (Great Barrier Reef of Australia) Color image 42 Seashore Color image 43 
Snake River and Grand Tetons Black and white image 44 Sand dunes Color image 45 Monument Valley Color image 46 Forest scene with mushrooms Color image 47 Leaf Color image Size 48 Autumn Fallen leaves Color image 49 Snowflakes over Sequoia[disambiguation needed ]Color image 50 Tree with daffodils Color image Size 51 Flying insect with flowers Color image 52 Diagram of vertebrate evolution Black and white diagram 53 Seashell (Xancidae) Color image 54 Dolphins Color image 55 School of fish Color image 56 Tree toad Color image 57 Crocodile Color image 58 Eagle Color image Size 59 Waterhole Color image 60 Jane Goodall and chimps Color image 61 Sketch of bushmen Black and white diagram Size 62 Bushmen hunters Black and white image 63 Man from Guatemala Color image 64 Dancer from Bali Color image 65 Andean girls Color image 66 Thailand master craftsman Color image 67 Elephant Color image 68 Old man with beard and glasses (Turkey) Color image 69 Old man with dog and flowers Color image 70 Mountain climber Color image 71 Gymnast Color image Time 72 Sprinters (Valeriy Borzov of the U.S.S.R. in lead) Color image 73 Schoolroom Color image 74 Children with globe Color image 75 Cotton harvest Color image 76 Grape picker Color image 77 
Supermarket Color image 78 Underwater scene with diver and fish Color image Chemical composition 79 Fishing boat with nets Color image 80 Cooking fish Color image 81 Chinese dinner party Color image 82 
Demonstration of licking, eating and drinking Color image 83 Great Wall of China Color image 84 House construction (African) Color image 85 Construction scene (Amish country) Color image 86 House (Africa) Color image 87 House (New England) Color image 88 Modern house (Cloudcroft, New Mexico) Color image 89 House interior with artist and fire Color image 90 Taj Mahal Color image 91 English city (Oxford) Color image 92 Boston Color image 93 UN Building Day Color image 94 UN Building Night Color image 95 Sydney Opera House Color image Size 96 Artisan with drill Black and white image 97 Factory interior Color image 98 Museum Color image 99 
X-ray of hand Color image 100 Woman with microscope Color image 101 Street scene, Asia (Pakistan) Color image 102 Rush hour traffic, India Color image 103 
Modern highway (Ithaca, NY) Color image 104 Golden Gate Bridge Black and white image Size 105 Train Color image Size 106 Airplane in flight Color image 107 Airport (Toronto) Black and white image 108 Antarctic Expedition Color image 109 Radio telescope (Westerbork, Netherlands) Black and white image 110 
Radio telescope (Arecibo) Color image Size 111 
Page of book (Newton, System of the World) Color image 112 
Astronaut in space Color image 113 
Titan Centaur launch Color image 114 Sunset with birds Color image 115 String Quartet (Quartetto Italiano) Color image 116 
Violin with music score (Cavatina) Color image See also
References
- ^ Jon Lomberg: "Pictures of Earth". in Carl Sagan: Murmurs of Earth, 1978, New York, ISBN 0-679-74444-4
- ^ "Greetings to the Universe in 55 Different Languages". NASA. http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/languages/languages.html. Retrieved September 6, 2006.
- ^ a b "Voyager(Languages): Armenian". http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/languages/armenian.html. Retrieved August 24, 2011.
- ^ "Voyager: Greetings in 55 languages". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTDK2jCVPN0. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
- ^ "Voyager - Spacecraft - Golden Record - Sounds of Earth". NASA. http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/sounds.html. Retrieved August 17, 2008.
- ^ Sagan, Carl et al. (1978) Murmurs of Earth: The Voyager Interstellar Record. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-394-41047-5 (hardcover), ISBN 0-345-28396-1 (paperback)
- ^ Sagan, Carl (1997). Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium. Random House. ISBN 0-679-41160-7.
- ^ Carl Sagan And Ann Druyan's Ultimate Mix Tape
- ^ "Greetings to the Universe in 55 Different Languages". NASA. http://goldenrecord.org. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
External links
- Official NASA JPL page about the Golden Record
- Multimedia showcase with the contents of the Golden Record
- Web site with all of the images, languages, and sounds on the Record.
Voyager program Concepts 
Voyager 1 Work- Pale Blue Dot
- Family Portrait (Voyager)
- Voyager Golden Record
- Contents of the Voyager Golden Record
- Voyager: Sounds of the Cosmos
Voyager 2 Work- Voyager Golden Record
- Contents of the Voyager Golden Record
- Voyager: Sounds of the Cosmos
Voyager team - Stamatios Krimigis
- Carolyn Porco
- Raymond Heacock
- Jim Blinn
- Edward C. Stone
- Timothy Ferris
Observations Categories:
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