In 1977, a journey unlike any other began, when NASA's Voyager One and Voyager Two
set off on a grand tour of the solar system.
After successfully capturing thousands of incredible images of Jupiter,
Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, the initial mission was complete, but the journey had only just begun.
Each probe was on a path that would ultimately lead them beyond the bubble of hot gas
that surrounds the solar system, called the Heliosphere and into the interstellar medium,
the region in between the stars. As of February 2022, nearly 45 years after they were launched,
Voyager One and Two are still functioning and regularly communicating with Earth, as they blaze
a lonely path towards distant alien stars. An endless journey, that won't bring them
close to any other known object for at least 40 thousand years.
Both the Voyager spacecraft are predicted to fall silent in the next few years or so,
as their power supply slowly depletes. Soon they will become nothing but drifting
relics of a mysterious civilisation that dared to explore beyond their horizon.
The mystery of where the probes originated could be solved, however, because if an
extraterrestrial spacefaring race were ever to find them, aboard each of the Voyager probes is
a special golden record containing information about us, our world and our solar system.
The golden record can be thought of as a kind of time capsule,
intended to communicate the story of our existence to any extraterrestrials
that might come across the probes at some point in the far future.
The message is carried by a phonograph record, a 12inch gold plated copper disk containing sounds
and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth. The disk is also
sealed in a golden cover with a cartridge and a needle. Plus, inscribed onto the surface are
instructions in symbolic language that explain the origin of the spacecraft and indicate how the
record can be played. Stored upon the disk is the audio of fifty-five different spoken greetings,
beginning in Akkadian, which was spoken in Sumer about six thousand years ago and ending in Wu,
a modern Chinese dialect. There is a 90-minute selection of
music from different cultures and eras, as well as a selection of sounds, revealing crickets,
chimpanzees, trains and morse code, for example. But it's not just the sounds of
Earth captured on the disks. Extraterrestrials could also decode specific audio wavelengths
using the instructions found on the case to view images depicting our world in a variety of ways.
The following 116 images are carried by both Voyager One and Two as they drift
endlessly through interstellar space. As you observe them, consider what it might
mean if an intelligent extraterrestrial life form were to discover the disks.
Consider how we would react if we found a similar alien time capsule passing Earth.
These are the images that, according to NASA and Carl Sagan, in 1977,
best represent our world and everything important about it.
Both the Voyager spacecraft are predicted to fall silent in the next few years or so,
as their power supply slowly depletes. In 38,200 years from now, Voyager One will come within
1.7 light-years of an obscure star called AC+79 3888. Voyager Two, on the other hand,
will come within 1.7 light-years of a star called ROSS 248 in around 40,000 years. Guide note: this
next paragraph concludes the video. Although they will both likely have been long forgotten by then,
they will still be carrying the golden records. Nobody knows what our future holds, but strapped
to the side of two interstellar explorers, is our story, glistening, in the light of alien stars.
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want to continue exploring our magnificent universe, then why not watch this video
about how we can now observe the surface of the Sun? Thank you so much for watching,
and we hope to see you all next time.