Posted on 11/29/2017 9:41:01 AM PST by Simon Green
t's been 30 years since NASA scientists launched the famed Golden Records — described by NASA as a mixed tape "intended to communicate the story of our world to extraterrestrials" — on Voyager spacecrafts 1 and 2, and while aliens have had the opportunity to give the records a listen as the spacecrafts have drifted deeper into space over the years, the public has never had the chance to own these records, until now.
The contents of the records were selected for NASA by a committee chaired by famed physicist Carl Sagan and the records were intended to give extraterrestrials an idea of what life on Earth means. To accomplish this, the record includes the sound of wind, rain, whales, birds, the brain waves of a woman falling in love (that of Sagan's not-yet-but-soon-to-be-second-wife Ann Druyan, a writer who met Sagan while working on this project) and spoken greetings from Earth in 55 languages.
“The chances of aliens finding the Voyagers in the vast emptiness of space are small — some say infinitesimal — but we took our jobs seriously,” Druyan said, according to NASA. “From the moment when [Sagan] first broached the project to Tim Ferris and me, it felt mythic.”
They chose to use records as their format because eight-track tapes would degrade in space due to radiation, opting for a copper record dipped in gold because it would hold up against both the radiation and the extreme temperatures of space.
The records also offer an incredible selection of music from all over the world. If aliens ever find and figure out how to play this record they'll discover the sounds of Chuck Berry ripping into his guitar, the magnificent thundering of Beethoven and the mournful longing of Blind Willie Johnson moaning the blues.
It's unclear if aliens will ever actually find and hear these records — Voyager 1 left our solar system in 2012 and Voyager 2 is still making its way out of the solar system, and who knows when or if they will ever reach a destination that comes equipped with listeners. And the listeners will have to be smart enough to know how to play the record as well.
"The spacecraft will be encountered and the record played only if there are advanced spacefaring civilizations in interstellar space," Sagan acknowledged at the time the record was put together and sent up on Voyager 1 and 2. "But the launching of this bottle into the cosmic ocean says something very hopeful about life on this planet."
Either way, the records are finally going to be available here on Earth.
A Kickstarter campaign by Ozma records raised more than $1 million to issue a limited number of copies of the record on vinyl. The campaign was such a success the company has opted to release copies of the record to the public.
The first records, complete with the sounds, images and everything else put together by Sagan and company, along with media coverage of the Voyager record as well, will go out at the end of January in a limited edition box set issued by record distributor Light in the Attic. The pre-order price is $50.
Aliens send message to earth, ‘more Chuck Berry!’.
People under 30 wonder what is a record.
There is a story, maybe apocryphal but I hope it’s true, that while discussing the contents of this album, someone suggested to Carl Sagan that JS Bach’s music be included.
Sagan responded that he would rather Bach not be on the album. When asked why, he said “That would just be showing off.”
And already it presents as ancient technology.
I have a copy/facsimile from a prior release - it’s pretty cool.
This should be available to the public in digital form for free. The taxpayers paid for it.
Chuck Berry utterly kicks Bach’s ass. Everyone knows it in private, but won’t admit it in public... That’s where i come in.
Carl Sagan also was instrumental in the design of this plaque with the following symbol uses; at the top left you have a length definition coming from the Hydrogen atom which is a universal (presumed) and set at a value for the human forms and the Pioneer outline. The radiating lines to a point establishes an astronomical position of Sol identified by 14 pulsars with binary values of their pulsations . At the bottom was a graphic of our Solar System (before Pluto was demoted!)
No one.
No one.
Least of all, Chuck Berry, kicks Bach’s ass.
JS Bach is the Hulk of the music world. Undefeated, undefeatable.
Berry barely exists as a flea in Bach’s kingdom.
Don't know about digital but this is NASA' site where you can see and hear what is on this record. NASA is *generally* good about these things that are already bought by taxpayer dollars.
40 years.
I defy you to show me a Bach song that beats Chuck Berry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFo8-JqzSCM
You’re on.
I have no access to Youtube here, but check out these:
St. Matthew Passion
All six Brandenburg Concertos
His Orchestral Suites
Mass in B minor
I’d argue Mozart is better than Bach - but that’s just a personal preference.
Very interesting. Thanks.
Strange how we can’t see some of the images because they are copyrighted.
There is a story, maybe apocryphal but I hope it’s true, that while discussing the contents of this album, someone suggested to Carl Sagan that JS Bach’s music be included.
Sagan responded that he would rather Bach not be on the album. When asked why, he said “That would just be showing off.”
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I hope that was a joke. There are at least 3 pieces from Bach on the record.
List below, along with all other music titles:
Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F.
Java, court gamelan, “Kinds of Flowers.”
Senegal, percussion
Zaire, Pygmy girls’ initiation song
Australia, Aborigine songs, “Morning Star” and “Devil Bird,”
Mexico, “El Cascabel,”
“Johnny B. Goode,” written and performed by Chuck Berry.
New Guinea, men’s house song
Japan, shakuhachi, “Tsuru No Sugomori” (”Crane’s Nest,”)
Bach, “Gavotte en rondeaux” from the Partita No. 3 in E major for Violin
Mozart, The Magic Flute, Queen of the Night aria, no. 14.
Georgian S.S.R., chorus, “Tchakrulo,”
Peru, panpipes and drum, collected by Casa de la Cultura, Lima.
“Melancholy Blues,” performed by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven.
Azerbaijan S.S.R., bagpipes,
Stravinsky, Rite of Spring, Sacrificial Dance
Bach, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2, Prelude and Fugue in C, No.1.
Beethoven, Fifth Symphony, First Movement
Bulgaria, “Izlel je Delyo Hagdutin,”
Navajo Indians, Night Chant
Holborne, Paueans, Galliards, Almains and Other Short Aeirs, “The Fairie Round,”
Solomon Islands, panpipes
Peru, wedding song
China, ch’in, “Flowing Streams”
India, raga, “Jaat Kahan Ho”
“Dark Was the Night,” written and performed by Blind Willie Johnson.
Beethoven, String Quartet No. 13 in B flat, Opus 130, Cavatina
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