3.6 Flying Out of the Solar System
191
in the middle of the left hand is a side view of the phonograph record and stylus,
with the binary numbers giving the time to play one side of the record, about one
hour. Thirdly, the lower-left and lower-right corners show the same patterns as the
Pioneer plaque, respectively indicating the location of the solar system with respect
to fourteen pulsars and the center of the Galaxy, and the hyperfine transition of neutral
hydrogen atom. Fourthly, a series of patterns drawn in the upper right-hand portion
mainly show how pictures are to be constructed from the recorded signals.
There are 116 images and a variety of natural sounds collected and assembled in
the golden record, of which the images are encoded in analogue form and composed
of 512 vertical lines while the sounds is presented as audio and designed to be played
at about 16.667 revolutions per minute. The 116 images include many photographs
and diagrams both in black and white and color. The first images are of scientific
interest, showing mathematical and physical quantities, the solar system and its
planets, Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA), and human anatomy and reproduction. Care
was taken to include not only pictures of humanity, but also some of animals, insects,
plants and landscapes. The images on humanity depict a broad range of cultures,
including food, architecture, and humans in portraits as well as going about their
day-to-day lives. Many pictures are annotated with one or more indications of scales
of time, size, or mass. Some images contain indications of chemical composition.
All measures used on the pictures are defined in the first few images using physical
references that are likely to be consistent anywhere in the universe.
The natural sounds made by surf, wind, thunder and animals were collected in the
golden record. In addition, the musical selections are from different cultures and eras,
and there are the spoken greetings in 55 ancient and modern languages, including a
English greeting from the then U.N. Secretary General Kurt J. Waldheim, the printed
message from the then U.S. President Jimmy E. Carter, and other human sounds like
footsteps and laughter, etc. The musical selection is also varied, both the Eastern and
Western classics, as well as various performances of indigenous music from around
the world, including works and performances by the featuring artists such as Bach,
Mozart, Beethoven, Stravinsky, Guan Pinghu, Blind Willie Johnson, Chuck Berry,
Kesarbai Kerkar and Valya Balkanska.
For the vast universe, the chance that the Voyager probes will be intercepted by
the extraterrestrial civilization is extremely slim. Even if the Voyagers are discovered
by the extraterrestrials, it will be in the far future. The golden records onboard of the
Voyagers are more like a kind of time capsule, trying to tell the story of human beings
on the Earth to the extraterrestrials, as President Carter said: “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”.
191
in the middle of the left hand is a side view of the phonograph record and stylus,
with the binary numbers giving the time to play one side of the record, about one
hour. Thirdly, the lower-left and lower-right corners show the same patterns as the
Pioneer plaque, respectively indicating the location of the solar system with respect
to fourteen pulsars and the center of the Galaxy, and the hyperfine transition of neutral
hydrogen atom. Fourthly, a series of patterns drawn in the upper right-hand portion
mainly show how pictures are to be constructed from the recorded signals.
There are 116 images and a variety of natural sounds collected and assembled in
the golden record, of which the images are encoded in analogue form and composed
of 512 vertical lines while the sounds is presented as audio and designed to be played
at about 16.667 revolutions per minute. The 116 images include many photographs
and diagrams both in black and white and color. The first images are of scientific
interest, showing mathematical and physical quantities, the solar system and its
planets, Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA), and human anatomy and reproduction. Care
was taken to include not only pictures of humanity, but also some of animals, insects,
plants and landscapes. The images on humanity depict a broad range of cultures,
including food, architecture, and humans in portraits as well as going about their
day-to-day lives. Many pictures are annotated with one or more indications of scales
of time, size, or mass. Some images contain indications of chemical composition.
All measures used on the pictures are defined in the first few images using physical
references that are likely to be consistent anywhere in the universe.
The natural sounds made by surf, wind, thunder and animals were collected in the
golden record. In addition, the musical selections are from different cultures and eras,
and there are the spoken greetings in 55 ancient and modern languages, including a
English greeting from the then U.N. Secretary General Kurt J. Waldheim, the printed
message from the then U.S. President Jimmy E. Carter, and other human sounds like
footsteps and laughter, etc. The musical selection is also varied, both the Eastern and
Western classics, as well as various performances of indigenous music from around
the world, including works and performances by the featuring artists such as Bach,
Mozart, Beethoven, Stravinsky, Guan Pinghu, Blind Willie Johnson, Chuck Berry,
Kesarbai Kerkar and Valya Balkanska.
For the vast universe, the chance that the Voyager probes will be intercepted by
the extraterrestrial civilization is extremely slim. Even if the Voyagers are discovered
by the extraterrestrials, it will be in the far future. The golden records onboard of the
Voyagers are more like a kind of time capsule, trying to tell the story of human beings
on the Earth to the extraterrestrials, as President Carter said: “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”.