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Voyager's "Greetings to the Universe"
Message to an ET
In 1977 NASA launched two Voyager spacecrafts loaded of detailed information on the sender and his place of origin. Voyager 1, the furthest human's artifact, already let the solar system, and is three times farther from the Sun, than Pluto, and arriving at the boundary region where the solar radiation cools (Heliopause), as shown at right (Bow Shock is where the cosmic radiation shocks with the solar one).
Voyager-------------------------------------------------------------------------Current Position
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The message that both Voyager are carrying, in the hope that an ET, one day, will find them, is recorded in a gold disk, protected by this golden involucre (photo), contend the necessary instructions, and the needle to play the analogical disk [instructions' details]:
The informations that accompany the "Greetings to the Universe" reveal all about the Solar system, the Earth and some of its inhabitants, especially the homo sapiens. It informs the position of the Sun and its planets, and, what is a timorous information, the list of the main chemical elements that forms the Earth and our bodies, including the four letters of everybody genetic code. In short, somewhat naively, the "Greetings" turned the gold over to the bad guy, or to the good one, depending on the ET. It's a little risky to send such, and so much information to an unknown ET; but it's done already, and all we can do is to root for, if it succeed, that it falls into friendly hands. To ease, I organized all informations in the following groups:
| 1 | |||
| 2 | Solar System | 5 | Reproduction |
| 3 | Earth | 6 | Organization |
| 4 | Fife on Earth | 7 | Technology |
Data on the Earth and its inhabitants includes images (see list below), sounds, languages, music and also messages from US President and UN General Secretary (reproduced below), which sound a litle ridiculous, because it will never be deciphered, since no Rosetta Stone was attached.
"As the Secretary General of the United Nations, an organization of the 147 member states who represent almost all of the human inhabitants of the planet Earth. I send greetings on behalf of the people of our planet. We step out of our solar system into the universe seeking only peace and friendship, to teach if we are called upon, to be taught if we are fortunate. We know full well that our planet and all its inhabitants are but a small part of this immense universe that surrounds us and it is with humility and hope that we take this step."
List of the 115
images (recorded on the disk), which accompany Voyagers:
The images with asterisk were reproduced
here.
Calibration circle, Jon Lomberg
*Solar location map, Frank Drake
*Mathematical definitions, Frank Drake
*Physical unit definitions, Frank Drake
*Solar system parameters, Frank Drake
*Solar system parameters, Frank Drake
*Solar spectrum, National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center, Cornell University (NAIC)
Mercury, NASA
Mars, NASA
Jupiter, NASA
Earth, NASA
Egypt, Red Sea, Sinai Peninsula and the Nile, NASA
*Chemical definitions, Frank Drake
*DNA Structure, Jon Lomberg
DNA Structure magnified, light hit, Jon Lomberg
Cells and cell division, Turtox/Cambosco
Human sex organs, Sinauer Associates, Inc.
*Diagram of conception, Jon Lomberg
Conception , Albert Bonniers; Forlag, Stockholm
Fertilized ovum, Albert Bonniers; Forlag, Stockholm
*Fetus diagram, Jon Lomberg
*Diagram of male and female, Jon Lomberg
Nursing mother, UN
Father and daughter (Malaysia), David Harvey
Group of children, Ruby Mera, UNICEF
Diagram of family ages, Jon Lomberg
Family portrait, Nina Leen, Time, Inc.
*Diagram of continental drift, Jon Lomberg
*Structure of Earth, Jon Lomberg
Heron Island (Great Barrier Reef of Australia), Dr. Jay M. Pasachoff
Snake River and Grand Tetons, Ansel Adams
Monument Valley, Shostal Associates, Inc.
Forest scene with mushrooms, Bruce Dale
Snowflake over Sequoia, Josef Muench, R. Sisson
Tree with daffodils, Gardens Winterthur, Winterthur Museum
Flying insect with flowers, Borne on the Wind, Stephen Dalton
*Diagram of vertebrate evolution, Jon Lomberg
Seashell (Xancidae), Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
School of fish, David Doubilet
Eagle, Donona, Taplinger Publishing Co.
Waterhole, South African Tourist Corp.
Jane Goodall and chimps, Vanne Morris-Goodall
*Sketch of bushmen, Jon Lomberg
Bushmen hunters, R. Farbman, Time, Inc.
Man from Guatemala, UN
Dancer from Bali, donna Grosvenor
Andean girls, Joseph Scherschel
Thailand craftsman, Dean conger
Old man with beard and glasses (Turkey), Jonathon Blair
Old man with dog and flowers, Bruce Baumann
Mountain climber, Gaston Rebuffat
Gymnast, Philip Leonian, Sports Illustrated
Sprinters (Valeri Borzov of the U.S.S.R. in lead), History of the Olympics, Picturepoint, London
Schoolroom, UN
Children with globe, UN
Supermarket, NAIC
Underwater scene with diver and fish, Jerry Greenberg
Fishing boat with nets, UN
Cooking fish, Cooking of Spain and Portugal, Time-Life Books
Chinese dinner party, Time-Life Books
Demonstration of licking, eating and drinking, NAIC
Great Wall of China, H. Edward Kim
House construction (African), UN
Construction scene (Amish country), William Albert Allard
House (Africa), UN
House (New England), Robert Sisson
Modern house (Cloudcroft, New Mexico), Frank Drake
House interior with artist and fire, Jim Amos
English city (Oxford), C.S. Lewis, Images of His World, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
UN Building Day, UN
UN Building Night, UN
Artisan with drill, Frank Hewlett
*X-ray of hand, NAIC
Woman with microscope, UN
Street scene, Asia (Pakistan), UN
Rush hour traffic, India, UN
Modern highway (Ithaca), NAIC
Golden Gate Bridge, Ansel Adams
Airplane in flight, Frank Drake
Airport (Toronto), George Hunter
Antarctic Expedition, Great Adventures with the National Geographic
Radio telescope (Westerbork, Netherlands), James Blair
Radio telescope (Arecibo), NAIC
Page of book (Newton, System of the World), NAIC
*Astronaut in space, NASA
*Titan Centaur launch, NASA
Sunset with birds, David Harvey
String Quartet (Quartetto Italiano), Phillips Recordings
Violin with music score (Cavatina), NAIC