The Sounds of Earth aka Murmurs of Earth - Voyager Golden Record

The Sounds of Earth aka Murmurs of Earth - Voyager Golden Record

[swf]http://www.youtube.com/v/UiR91Nkvt80&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0.swf[/swf]

Wikipedia:

This is NASA's Voyager Golden Record from Carl Sagan's "Murmurs of Earth", a book written in 1992 which included a CD-ROM with the images and audio that were sent on the Voyager Spacecraft to possible extraterrestrials.

The Voyager Golden Record are phonograph records which were included aboard both Voyager spacecraft, which were launched in 1977. They contain sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth, and are intended for any intelligent extraterrestrial life form, or far future humans, who may find them. The Voyager spacecraft are not heading towards any particular star, but Voyager 1 will be within 1.6 light years of the star AC+79 3888 in the Ophiuchus constellation in about 40,000 years.[1]

As the probes are extremely small compared to the vastness of interstellar space, it is extraordinarily unlikely that they will ever be accidentally encountered. If they are ever found by an alien species, it will most likely be far in the future, and thus the record is best seen as a time capsule or a symbolic statement rather than a serious attempt to communicate with extraterrestrial life.

The record is constructed of gold-plated copper. There is an ultra-pure sample of the isotope uranium-238 electroplated on the record's cover. Uranium-238 has a half-life of 4.51 billion years. It is possible that a civilization that encounters the record will be able to use the ratio of remaining uranium to daughter elements to determine the age of the record.

The records also had the sentence "To the makers of music — all worlds, all times" handwritten on them. Since this was not in the original disc specification, it almost caused their rejection[8].

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, spoken greetings in fifty-five languages, and printed messages from President Jimmy Carter and U.N. Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim.

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[2].

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."

The 116 images are encoded in analogue form. The remainder of the record is audio, designed to be played at 16? revolutions per minute.

The first audio section contains spoken greetings in the following 55 languages[3], including 4 Chinese dialects (marked with **) and 12 South Asian languages (marked #) listed here in alphabetical order:

- Akkadian
- Ancient Greek
- Amoy**
- Arabic
- Aramaic
- Armenian
- Bengali#
- Burmese
- Cantonese**
- Czech
- Dutch
- English
- French
- German
- Gujarati#
- Hebrew
- Hindi#
- Hittite
- Hungarian
- Ila (Zambia)
- Indonesian
- Italian
- Japanese
- Kannada#
- Korean
- Latin
- Luganda
- Mandarin**
- Marathi#
- Nepali#
- Nguni
- Nyanja
- Oriya#
- Persian
- Polish
- Portuguese
- Punjabi#
- Quechua
- Rajasthani#
- Romanian
- Russian
- Serbian/Croatian
- Sinhalese#
- Sotho
- Spanish
- Sumerian
- Swedish
- Telugu#
- Thai
- Turkish
- Ukrainian
- Urdu#
- Vietnamese
- Welsh
- Wu**

The next audio section is devoted to the "sounds of Earth" that include[4]:

- Music of the Spheres
- Volcanoes, Earthquake, Thunder
- Mud Pots
- Wind, Rain, Surf
- Crickets, Frogs
- Birds, Hyena, Elephant
- Whale song
- Chimpanzee
- Wild Dog
- Footsteps, heartbeat, Laughter
- The First Tools
- Tame Dog
- Herding Sheep, Birdsong, Blacksmith, Sawing
- Tractor, Riveter
- Morse Code, Ships (precisely, a ship's horn)
- Horse and Cart
- Train
- Tractor, Bus, Auto
- F-111 Flyby, Saturn V Lift-off
- Kiss, Mother and Child
- Life Signs, Pulsar

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.

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:

- Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 In F, First Movement -- J. S. Bach
- Kinds Of Flowers -- Java, court gamelan
- Tchenhoukoumen -- Senegal, percussion
- Pygmy Girls' Initiation Song -- Zaire
- Morning Star And Devil Bird -- Australian Aborigine songs
- El Cascabel -- Mexico, performed by Lorenzo Barcelata
- Johnny B. Goode -- Chuck Berry
- Men's House Song -- Papua New Guinea
- Cranes In Their Nest -- Japan, shakuhachi, performed by Coro Yamaguchi
- Gavotte En Rondeaux, from the Partitia No. 3 In E Minor For Violin -- J. S. Bach
- The Magic Flute_ Queen Of The Night Aria, No. 14 -- Mozart
- Tchakrulo -- Georgia, chorus
- Panpipes And Drum Song -- Peru
- Melancholy Blues -- performed by Louis Armstrong & His Hot Seven
- Ugam -- Azerbaijan Bagpipes
- Rite Of Spring, Sacrificial Dance -- Stravinsky
- The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2, Prelude And Fugue In C, No. 1 -- J. S. Bach
- Symphony No. 5 In C Minor, First Movement -- Beethoven
- Izlel Je Delyo Hagdutin -- Bulgaria, sung by Valya Balkanska
- Navajo Night Chant -- United States
- Fairie Round, from Paueans, Gaillards, Almains, And Other Short Aeirs -- Holborne
- Melanesian Panpipes -- Solomon Islands
- Wedding Song -- Peru
- Flowing Streams -- China, Ch'in, performed by Kuan P'ing-hu
- Jaat Kahan Ho -- India, Raga, sung by Surshri Kesar Bai Kerkar
- Dark Was The Night -- Blind Willie Johnson
- String Quartet No. 13 In B Flat, Opus 130, Cavatina -- Beethoven

* 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[5].

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 pysical references.

Following is a list of all the images contained in the Voyager Golden Record toghether with a decription of the nature of the image and what annotations were included in them.[8]

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 Time
48 [[Autumn|Fallen leaves Color image
49 Snowflakes over Sequoia 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 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 (Valeri 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) 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

Voyager 1 was launched in 1977, passed the orbit of Pluto in 1990, and left the solar system (in the sense of passing the termination shock) in November 2004. It is now in empty space. In about 40,000 years, it and Voyager 2 will each come to within about 1.7 light-years of two separate stars: Voyager 1 will have approached star AC+79 3888, located in the constellation Ophiuchus; and Voyager 2 will have approached star Ross 248, located in the constellation of Andromeda.

In August 2009, Voyager 1 was over 16.5 billion km from the Sun and traveling at a speed of 3.5 AU per year (approximately 61,000 km/h, or 38,000 mph) while Voyager 2 was well over 13 billion km away and moving at about 3.3 AU per year (approximately 56,000 km/h, or 35,000 mph).

Voyager 1 has entered the heliosheath, the region beyond the termination shock. The termination shock is where the solar wind, a thin stream of electrically charged gas blowing continuously outward from the Sun, is slowed by pressure from gas between the stars. At the termination shock, the solar wind slows abruptly from its average speed of 300 to 700 km per second (700,000–1,500,000 miles per hour) and becomes denser and hotter.[4]

As Carl Sagan has noted, "The spacecraft will be encountered and the record played only if there are advanced space-faring civilizations in interstellar space. But the launching of this 'bottle' into the cosmic 'ocean' says something very hopeful about life on this planet."

*UPLOADER'S NOTES*

Missing from this torrent is an hour long recording of the brainwaves of Ann Druyan, the wife of Carl Sagan.

Wikipedia:

The Golden Records also carried an hour long recording of the brainwaves of Ann Druyan, the wife of 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[6]."

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.[7]

There also seems to be a few extra images and audio files in this torrent. There's a total of 123 images including the cover of the Voyager Golden Record instead of the listed 116, and there is 2 extra audio files: "Greeting From The Secretary General Of The UN" & "UN Greetings _ Whale Greetings".

Related Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_Golden_Record

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contents_of_the_Voyager_Golden_Record

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_plaque

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/voyager_record/

http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/faq.html

Related Downloads:

Nasa Voyager Recordings! - Symphonies of the Planets - http://tracker.concen.org/torrents-details.php?id=1065

NASA Space Recordings of Earth! - Voice of Earth - http://tracker.concen.org/torrents-details.php?id=1064