voyager spacecraft disc

The most distant human-made object

No spacecraft has gone farther than NASA's Voyager 1. Launched in 1977 to fly by Jupiter and Saturn, Voyager 1 crossed into interstellar space in August 2012 and continues to collect data.

Mission Type

What is Voyager 1?

Voyager 1 has been exploring our solar system for more than 45 years. The probe is now in interstellar space, the region outside the heliopause, or the bubble of energetic particles and magnetic fields from the Sun.

• Voyager 1 was the first spacecraft to cross the heliosphere, the boundary where the influences outside our solar system are stronger than those from our Sun.
• Voyager 1 is the first human-made object to venture into interstellar space.
• Voyager 1 discovered a thin ring around Jupiter and two new Jovian moons: Thebe and Metis.
• At Saturn, Voyager 1 found five new moons and a new ring called the G-ring.

In Depth: Voyager 1

Voyager 1 was launched after Voyager 2, but because of a faster route, it exited the asteroid belt earlier than its twin, having overtaken Voyager 2 on Dec. 15, 1977.

Voyager 1 at Jupiter

Voyager 1 began its Jovian imaging mission in April 1978 at a range of 165 million miles (265 million km) from the planet. Images sent back by January the following year indicated that Jupiter’s atmosphere was more turbulent than during the Pioneer flybys in 1973–1974.

Beginning on January 30, Voyager 1 took a picture every 96 seconds for a span of 100 hours to generate a color timelapse movie to depict 10 rotations of Jupiter. On Feb. 10, 1979, the spacecraft crossed into the Jovian moon system and by early March, it had already discovered a thin (less than 30 kilometers thick) ring circling Jupiter.

Voyager 1’s closest encounter with Jupiter was at 12:05 UT on March 5, 1979 at a range of about 174,000 miles (280,000 km). It encountered several of Jupiter’s Moons, including Amalthea, Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, returning spectacular photos of their terrain, opening up completely new worlds for planetary scientists.

The most interesting find was on Io, where images showed a bizarre yellow, orange, and brown world with at least eight active volcanoes spewing material into space, making it one of the most (if not the most) geologically active planetary body in the solar system. The presence of active volcanoes suggested that the sulfur and oxygen in Jovian space may be a result of the volcanic plumes from Io which are rich in sulfur dioxide. The spacecraft also discovered two new moons, Thebe and Metis.

Voyager 1 at Saturn

Following the Jupiter encounter, Voyager 1 completed an initial course correction on April 9, 1979 in preparation for its meeting with Saturn. A second correction on Oct. 10, 1979 ensured that the spacecraft would not hit Saturn’s moon Titan.

Its flyby of the Saturn system in November 1979 was as spectacular as its previous encounter. Voyager 1 found five new moons, a ring system consisting of thousands of bands, wedge-shaped transient clouds of tiny particles in the B ring that scientists called “spokes,” a new ring (the “G-ring”), and “shepherding” satellites on either side of the F-ring—satellites that keep the rings well-defined.

During its flyby, the spacecraft photographed Saturn’s moons Titan, Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, and Rhea. Based on incoming data, all the moons appeared to be composed largely of water ice. Perhaps the most interesting target was Titan, which Voyager 1 passed at 05:41 UT on November 12 at a range of 2,500 miles (4,000 km). Images showed a thick atmosphere that completely hid the surface. The spacecraft found that the moon’s atmosphere was composed of 90% nitrogen. Pressure ad temperature at the surface was 1.6 atmospheres and 356 °F (–180°C), respectively.

Atmospheric data suggested that Titan might be the first body in the solar system (apart from Earth) where liquid might exist on the surface. In addition, the presence of nitrogen, methane, and more complex hydrocarbons indicated that prebiotic chemical reactions might be possible on Titan.

Voyager 1’s closest approach to Saturn was at 23:46 UT on 12 Nov. 12, 1980 at a range of 78,000 miles(126,000 km).

Voyager 1’s ‘Family Portrait’ Image

Following the encounter with Saturn, Voyager 1 headed on a trajectory escaping the solar system at a speed of about 3.5 AU per year, 35° out of the ecliptic plane to the north, in the general direction of the Sun’s motion relative to nearby stars. Because of the specific requirements for the Titan flyby, the spacecraft was not directed to Uranus and Neptune.

The final images taken by the Voyagers comprised a mosaic of 64 images taken by Voyager 1 on Feb. 14, 1990 at a distance of 40 AU of the Sun and all the planets of the solar system (although Mercury and Mars did not appear, the former because it was too close to the Sun and the latter because Mars was on the same side of the Sun as Voyager 1 so only its dark side faced the cameras).

This was the so-called “pale blue dot” image made famous by Cornell University professor and Voyager science team member Carl Sagan (1934-1996). These were the last of a total of 67,000 images taken by the two spacecraft.

Voyager 1’s Interstellar Mission

All the planetary encounters finally over in 1989, the missions of Voyager 1 and 2 were declared part of the Voyager Interstellar Mission (VIM), which officially began on Jan. 1, 1990.

The goal was to extend NASA’s exploration of the solar system beyond the neighborhood of the outer planets to the outer limits of the Sun’s sphere of influence, and “possibly beyond.” Specific goals include collecting data on the transition between the heliosphere, the region of space dominated by the Sun’s magnetic field and solar field, and the interstellar medium.

On Feb. 17, 1998, Voyager 1 became the most distant human-made object in existence when, at a distance of 69.4 AU from the Sun when it “overtook” Pioneer 10.

On Dec. 16, 2004, Voyager scientists announced that Voyager 1 had reported high values for the intensity for the magnetic field at a distance of 94 AU, indicating that it had reached the termination shock and had now entered the heliosheath.

The spacecraft finally exited the heliosphere and began measuring the interstellar environment on Aug. 25, 2012, the first spacecraft to do so.

On Sept. 5, 2017, NASA marked the 40th anniversary of its launch, as it continues to communicate with NASA’s Deep Space Network and send data back from four still-functioning instruments—the cosmic ray telescope, the low-energy charged particles experiment, the magnetometer, and the plasma waves experiment.

The Golden Record

Each of the Voyagers contain a “message,” prepared by a team headed by Carl Sagan, in the form of a 12-inch (30 cm) diameter gold-plated copper disc for potential extraterrestrials who might find the spacecraft. Like the plaques on Pioneers 10 and 11, the record has inscribed symbols to show the location of Earth relative to several pulsars.

The records also contain instructions to play them using a cartridge and a needle, much like a vinyl record player. The audio on the disc includes greetings in 55 languages, 35 sounds from life on Earth (such as whale songs, laughter, etc.), 90 minutes of generally Western music including everything from Mozart and Bach to Chuck Berry and Blind Willie Johnson. It also includes 115 images of life on Earth and recorded greetings from then U.S. President Jimmy Carter (1924– ) and then-UN Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim (1918–2007).

By January 2024, Voyager 1 was about 136 AU (15 billion miles, or 20 billion kilometers) from Earth, the farthest object created by humans, and moving at a velocity of about 38,000 mph (17.0 kilometers/second) relative to the Sun.

National Space Science Data Center: Voyager 1

A library of technical details and historic perspective.

Beyond Earth: A Chronicle of Deep Space Exploration

A comprehensive history of missions sent to explore beyond Earth.

Discover More Topics From NASA

Our Solar System

Dear Voyagers: How your billion-year journey carries true love

Ann Druyan, creative director on the Voyager golden discs, reflects on the two spacecraft’s epic journeys—and on Carl Sagan, the love of her life.

This cover was designed to protect the Voyager 1 and 2 Sounds of Earth gold-plated records from micrometeorite bombardment, but it also provides any future finders of the spacecraft a key to playing its contents. The records within contain greetings in 60 languages, samples of music from different cultures and eras, natural and artificial sounds from Earth, and electronic information that can be converted into diagrams and images.

Dear Voyagers,

You, the farthest objects we have ever touched, now venture beyond that place where the sun’s wind gives way to roaring interstellar gales; far, far away—and yet I feel close to you. My own life attained lift-off when you did. I was 27 years old when you were in the last stages of your assembly. Carl Sagan and I had known each other as friends and colleagues for a couple of years. We fell in love in 1977 while collaborating on the message that you carry. At the same moment that you left Earth to discover and explore other worlds and to blaze our trail to the stars, we were launched on our own life trajectory. You have been on my mind ever since.

The golden discs affixed to both of you are rich in information, including our return address. The scientific hieroglyphic on them that resembles a burst of fireworks is actually a map of the frequencies of the thirteen nearest pulsars. We think that these rapidly rotating neutron stars—virtually inexhaustible natural beacons, each identifiable by their unique rate of spin—will point the way to our sun and its system of worlds.

Countless times I have tried to imagine that I am flying along with you at 38,000 miles an hour past gas giants and ice worlds, as you leave the shallows of the cosmic ocean, bullet-like, even under the punishing assault of cosmic rays.

I have fantasized your discovery by an extraterrestrial civilization. They reel in one of you derelict spacecraft, assessing your Model-T technology, and pore over the symbols on your golden disc, as Champollion and Young once did in their efforts to decipher the texts of ancient Egypt. But your deeper message is hidden beneath. Someone figures this out and pries off the cover to find 27 pieces of music from the world’s cultures, 118 images of life here, greetings in the languages of humans and others, and an audio essay about life on Earth.

FREE BONUS ISSUE

The crackle of thunder awaits them. A mother’s first words to her newborn. A cricket’s song. An hour of meditation by a young woman newly fallen in true love.

I was that woman.

Fast Facts: Voyager 1 and 2

Agency: NASA

Voyager 1 Launch Date: September 5, 1977

Voyager 2 Launch Date: August 20, 1977

Launch Vehicle: Martin Marietta Titan IIIE

Launch Mass: 1,591.5 lbs (721.9 kg)

Power Source: 420-watt radioisotope thermal generator

Voyager 1 Enters Interstellar Space: August 25, 2012

Voyager 2 Enters Interstellar Space: November 5, 2018

Just days after Carl and I realized we would spend the rest of our lives together, I meditated for an hour while blindfolded, hooked up to every human monitoring device then known. The signals from my mind and heart—the most intimate message on the record—were translated into data and paired on the golden records with a strangely similar rasping, that of the most distant sound ever recorded back then: a pulsar.

Now, I am seventy. Yet the feelings of that long-ago spring afternoon remain fresh and astounding. It was the first day of June, and I was searching for the piece of music that would honor China’s 2,500-year-old continuous tradition. I did not know a single thing about Chinese music, so the search for its exemplar had been especially challenging. Once I felt sure I had found it, I left a message for Carl at his hotel in Tucson. We had never kissed or even joked about our feelings for each other, but when he returned my call, in the course of an exchange of about a dozen words, we had decided to marry.

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And marry we did—in every way possible. Our families, our work, our hearts and minds and days and nights were blissful in their oneness, for the next two decades, until his death.

On Valentine's Day 1990, Voyager 1 sent Earth a love letter in the form of a planetary portrait. From more than four billion miles away, Earth appears as just a "pale blue dot," a phrase coined by the scientist Carl Sagan.

I and everyone I know will be dust for more than fifty thousand years before you near another star (unless some spacefarer should flag you down). But even if you are never claimed, you two have already taught us many things. Your dispatches from the outer solar system revealed new moons, geysers, volcanoes, sub-surface oceans, hurricanes of a ferocity that would fracture even our extended scale of categories, and even the very shape of our solar system as it moves through the Milky Way galaxy.

Under Carl’s leadership, you gave us another gift: that lesson in humility known as the “pale blue dot,” a portrait of our one-pixel world taken from out by Neptune. It is a way to grasp our true circumstances that can pierce even the fiercest form of denial. To see it is to know that we all live on a tiny dot. I wonder how long the petty chieftains and polluters can hold onto their delusions now that we’ve seen the picture you took and sent home to us, Voyager 1? From where you are now, Earth would be invisible.

For me you are more than machine. You are also an apt metaphor for Carl. In him, as in you, our science and humanity were united without conflict. Wonder and skepticism, imagination and rigor, ambition and inclusion, passion and reason, audacity and humility, precision and tenderness—none ever at the cost of the other—all combined to make him, what he was, and you, what you are.

Our collective human memory can barely reach back ten thousand years. Generations of scientists have been reconstructing the past of our species, our planet, and our universe. Thanks to them, we have an idea of what happened nearly 14 billion years ago. Your projected shelf life measures on that same enormous time scale. You are expected to complete four to twenty trips around the galaxy with our music, our images, our messages, intact. Since you have exceeded your mission specifications in every other way, I favor the optimistic view of a five-billion-year long shelf-life for your message. That’s likely longer than the future history of life on Earth. Your voices may still speak for us when our sun has become a red giant and all terrestrial remnants of our existence have been reduced to ash.

Even then, because of you, we can imagine that five thousand million years from now, our blues and our ragas, and a heart at its greatest fullness, will sing on.

Ad astra, my darlings.

My love and I are with you always,

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Voyager Will Carry Earth Sounds Record

On the chance that someone is out there, NASA has approved tie placement of a phonograph record on each of two planetary spacecraft being readied far launch next month to the outer reaches of the solar system

The recording, called "Sounds of Earth" was placed Friday (July 29) aboard the first of two Voyager spacecraft scheduled to be launched to Jupiter, Saturn and beyond.

The 12-inch. copper disc contains greetings from Earth people in 60 languages, samples of music from different cultures and eras, and natural sounds of surf, wind and thunder, and birds, whales and other animals

The record also contains electronic information that an advanced technological civilization could convert into diagrams, pictures and printed words, including a message from President Carter.

The main Voyager objective is to conduct a detailed scientific investigation of giant Jupiter and ringed Saturn, 11 of their moons and possibly Uranus, before leaving the solar system to journey nearly endlessly among the stars.

The messages on the record were designed enable Possible extraterrestrial civilizations who might intercept the spacecraft millions of years, hence to put together some pictures of 20th century Earth and its inhabitants.

"Because space is very empty there is essentially no chance that Voyager will enter the planetary system of another star," said astronomer Carl Sagan of Cornell University. "The spacecraft will be encountered and the record played only if there are advanced spacefaring civilizations in interstellar space."

"But, as the beautiful messages from President Carter and Secretary General Waldheim indicate," he added, "the launching of this bottle into the cosmic ocean says something very hopeful about life on this planet."

The idea for the record was formulated by Sagan and the repertoire was selected by an advisory committee of prominent scientists, musicians and others. Sagan also was responsible for the plaques with a message previously sent into interstellar space aboard the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft.

A phonograph record was chosen. because can carry much more information in the same space then for example the Pioneer plaques. In addition, 1977 is the 100th anniversary of the invention of the phonograph record by Thomas Alva Edison.

Each record is mace of copper and is in an aluminum protective jacket. It contains, in scientific language, information on how the record is to be played, using the cartridge and needle provided. The record begins with photographs and diagrams in analog form, depicting mathematics, chemistry, geology, and biology of the Earth, photographs of human beings of many countries, and some hint of the richness of our civilization. Included are schematics about the solar system, its dimensions and location in the Milky Way Galaxy, descriptions of DNA and human chromosomes, photographs of Earth, the Voyager launch vehicle, a large radio telescope and human beings in various settings and endeavors.

This is followed by spoken greetings in approximately 60 human languages, including a spoken message by Kurt Waldheim, Secretary General of the United Nations.

The Voyager record next includes a sound essay on the evolution of the planet Earth including sounds of weather and surf, the Earth before life, life before Man, and finally the development of human civilization.

The musical selections, which almost 90 minutes playing ~ ~e, a_~ representative of the c~ cultural d~ diversity of Earth, of many times and ,laces, and include both Eastern and Western classical music and a variety of ethnic music. Included is music from Senegal, Australia, Peru, Bulgaria, and Azerbaijan, as well as jazz and rock and roll. In the classical repertoire are compositions by Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, and Stravinsky , as well as Javanese Gamelan, Indian Raga, Japanese Skakuhachi, and Chinese Ch'in music. The entire 16 2/3 rpm record runs nearly two hours.

Because of the aluminum cover and the emptiness of interstellar space the record is likely to survive more than a billion years. Thus it represents not only a message into space but also a message into time, a point referred to in President Carter's message.

Among the members of Dr. Sagan's committee and others who played a major role in devising the Voyager record are Dr. Frank Drake, Cornell University; Dr. A. G. Cameron, Harvard University; Dr. Phillip Morrison, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Dr. Bernard Olive, Hewlett-Packard Corporation; Dr. Leslie Orgel, Salk Institute; Dr. Alan Lomax, Choreometrics Project, Columbia University; Dr. Robert Brown, Center for World Music, Berkeley, California; Murry Sidlin, National Symphony Orchestra, Washington, D.C. and artist Jon Lomberg , Toronto, Canada. The record was produced Timothy Ferris; the creative director was Ann Druyan, both of New York City.

The record was prepared for NASA as a public service by Columbia Records. Permission to use copyrighted material on the record has been given to NASA by the owners, also as a public service.

The first Voyager will be launched aboard a Titan Centaur rocket on August 20, and the second or September 1. They will arrive at Jupiter in 1979, Saturn and its rings in 1980, and possibly examine Uranus in 1986. The two spacecraft will be considered to have left the solar system when they cross the orbit of Pluto in 1989

The Voyager spacecraft will escape the solar system at a speed of 17.2 km/sec (38,700 miles per hour), but this is a slow speed for interstellar distances. It will take at least 40,000 years before either spacecraft approaches another star - passing it at a distance of about one light year (six trillion miles). Other predictable approaches to stars will occur 147,000 and 525,000 years.

• Tuesday, 02 April 2024

NSSDCA/COSPAR ID:  1977-084A

Description

Voyager 1 was one of a pair of spacecraft launched to explore the planets of the outer solar system and the interplanetary environment. Each Voyager had as its major objectives at each planet to: (1) investigate the circulation, dynamics, structure, and composition of the planet's atmosphere; (2) characterize the morphology, geology, and physical state of the satellites of the planet; (3) provide improved values for the mass, size, and shape of the planet, its satellites, and any rings; and, (4) determine the magnetic field structure and characterize the composition and distribution of energetic trapped particles and plasma therein.

Spacecraft and Subsystems

Each Voyager consisted of a decahedral bus, 47 cm in height and 1.78 m across from flat to flat. A 3.66 m diameter parabolic high-gain antenna was mounted on top of the bus. The major portion of the science instruments were mounted on a science boom extending out some 2.5 m from the spacecraft. At the end of the science boom was a steerable scan platform on which were mounted the imaging and spectroscopic remote sensing instruments. Also mounted at various distances along the science boom were the plasma and charged particle detectors. The magnetometers were located along a separate boom extending 13 m on the side opposite the science boom. A third boom, extending down and away from the science instruments, held the spacecraft's radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs). Two 10 m whip antennas (used for the plasma wave and planetary radio astronomy investigations) also extended from the spacecraft, each perpendicular to the other. The spacecraft was three-axis spin stabilized to enable long integration times and selective viewing for the instruments mounted on the scan platform.

Power was provided to the spacecraft systems and instruments through the use of three radioisotope thermoelectric generators. The RTGs were assembled in tandem on a deployable boom hinged on an outrigger arrangement of struts attached to the basic structure. Each RTG unit, contained in a beryllium outer case, was 40.6 cm in diameter, 50.8 cm in length, and weighed 39 kg. The RTGs used a radioactive source (Plutonium-238 in the form of plutonium oxide, or PuO2, in this case) which, as it decayed, gave off heat. A bi-metallic thermoelectric device was used to convert the heat to electric power for the spacecraft. The total output of RTGs slowly decreases with time as the radioactive material is expended. Therefore, although the initial output of the RTGs on Voyager was approximately 470 W of 30 V DC power at launch, it had fallen off to approximately 335 W by the beginning of 1997 (about 19.5 years post-launch). As power continues to decrease, power loads on the spacecraft must also decrease. Current estimates (1998) are that increasingly limited instrument operations can be carried out at least until 2020.

Communications were provided through the high-gain antenna with a low-gain antenna for backup. The high-gain antenna supported both X-band and S-band downlink telemetry. Voyager was the first spacecraft to utilize X-band as the primary telemetry link frequency. Data could be stored for later transmission to Earth through the use of an on-board digital tape recorder.

Voyager, because of its distance from Earth and the resulting time-lag for commanding, was designed to operate in a highly-autonomous manner. In order to do this and carry out the complex sequences of spacecraft motions and instrument operations, three interconnected on-board computers were utilized. The Computer Command Subsystem (CCS) was responsible for storing commanding for the other two computers and issuing the commands at set times. The Attitude and Articulation Control Subsystem (AACS) was responsible for controlling spacecraft attitude and motions of the scan platform. The Flight Data Subsystem (FDS) controlled the instruments, including changes in configuration (state) or telemetry rates. All three computers had redundant components to ensure continued operations. The AACS included redundant star trackers and Sun sensors as well.

Message in a Bottle

Each Voyager has mounted to one of the sides of the bus a 12-inch gold-plated copper disk. The disk has recorded on it sounds and images of Earth designed to portray the diversity of life and culture on the planet. Each disk is encased in a protective aluminum jacket along with a cartridge and a needle. Instructions explaining from where the spacecraft originated and how to play the disk are engraved onto the jacket. Electroplated onto a 2 cm area on the cover is also an ultra-pure source of uranium-238 (with a radioactivity of about 0.26 nanocuries and a half-life of 4.51 billion years), allowing the determination of the elapsed time since launch by measuring the amount of daughter elements to remaining U238. The 115 images on the disk were encoded in analog form. The sound selections (including greetings in 55 languages, 35 sounds, natural and man-made, and portions of 27 musical pieces) are designed for playback at 1000 rpm. The Voyagers were not the first spacecraft designed with such messages to the future. Pioneers 10 and 11, LAGEOS, and the Apollo landers also included plaques with a similar intent, though not quite so ambitious.

Mission Profile

Originally planned as a Grand Tour of the outer planets, including dual launches to Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto in 1976-77 and dual launches to Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune in 1979, budgetary constraints caused a dramatic rescoping of the project to two spacecraft, each of which would go to only Jupiter and Saturn. The new mission was called Mariner Jupiter/Saturn, or MJS. It was subsequently renamed Voyager about six months prior to launch. The rescoped mission was estimated to cost $250 million (through the end of Saturn operations), only a third of what the Grand Tour design would have cost.

Originally scheduled to launch twelve days after Voyager 2, Voyager 1's launch was delayed twice to prevent the occurrence of problems which Voyager 2 experienced after launch. Voyager 1's launch finally happened on 05 Sept. 1977 and was termed "flawless and accurate".

Although launched sixteen days after Voyager 2, Voyager 1's trajectory was the quicker one to Jupiter. On 15 Dec. 1977, while both spacecraft were in the asteroid belt, Voyager 1 surpassed Voyager 2's distance from the Sun. Voyager 1 then proceeded to Jupiter (making its closest approach on 05 March 1979) and Saturn (with closest approach on 12 Nov. 1980). Both prior to and after planetary encounters observations were made of the interplanetary medium. Some 18,000 images of Jupiter and its satellites were taken by Voyager 1. In addition, roughly 16,000 images of Saturn, its rings and satellites were obtained.

After its encounter with Saturn, Voyager 1 remained relatively quiescent, continuing to make in situ observations of the interplanetary environment and UV observations of stars. After nearly nine years of dormancy, Voyager 1's cameras were once again turned on to take a series of pictures. On 14 Feb. 1990, Voyager 1 looked back from whence it came and took the first "family portrait" of the solar system, a mosaic of 60 frames of the Sun and six of the planets (Venus, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) as seen from "outside" the solar system. After this final look back, the cameras on Voyager 1 were once again turned off.

All of the experiments, save the photopolarimeter (which failed to operate), have produced useful data.

Onward and Outward

Rechristened the Voyager Interstellar Mission (VIM) by NASA in 1989 (after Voyager 2's Neptune encounter), Voyager 1 continues operations, taking measurements of the interplanetary magnetic field, plasma, and charged particle environment while searching for the heliopause (the distance at which the solar wind becomes subsumed by the more general interstellar wind). Through the end of the Neptune phase of the Voyager project, a total of $875 million had been expended for the construction, launch, and operations of both Voyager spacecraft. An additional $30 million was allocated for the first two years of VIM.

Voyager 1 is speeding away from the Sun at a velocity of about 3.50 AU/year toward a point in the sky of RA= 262 degrees, Dec=+12 degrees (35.55 degrees ecliptic latitude, 260.78 degrees ecliptic longitude). Late on 17 February 1998, Voyager 1 became the most distant man-made object from the Sun, surpassing the distance of Pioneer 10.

Alternate Names

• Mariner 77A
• Mariner Jupiter/Saturn A
• Outer Planets A
• urn:nasa:pds:context:instrument_host:spacecraft.vg1

Facts in Brief

Launch Date:  1977-09-05 Launch Vehicle:  Titan IIIE-Centaur Launch Site:  Cape Canaveral, United States Mass:  721.9 kg Nominal Power:  420 W

Funding Agency

• NASA-Office of Space Science Applications (United States)

Disciplines

• Planetary Science
• Space Physics

Additional Information

• Launch/Orbital information for Voyager 1
• Telecommunications information for Voyager 1
• Experiments on Voyager 1
• Data collections from Voyager 1

Questions and comments about this spacecraft can be directed to: Dr. Edwin V. Bell, II   Personnel

Selected references.

• Stone, E. C., Voyager mission: Encounters with Saturn, J. Geophys. Res. , 88, No. A11, 8639-8642, doi:10.1029/JA088iA11p08639, Nov. 1983.
• Stone, E. C., The Voyager mission through the Jupiter encounters, J. Geophys. Res. , 86, No. A10, 8123-8124, doi:10.1029/JA086iA10p08123, Sept. 1981.
• Kohlhase, C. E., and P. A. Penzo, Voyager mission description, Space Sci. Rev. , 21, No. 2, 77-101, doi:10.1007/BF00200846, Nov. 1977.

Other Voyager Information/Data at NSSDCA

NSSDCA Voyager page

Data available on-line

• Voyager cruise magnetic field and plasma data from COHOWeb
• Voyager 1/2 position data in heliographic coordinates.

View selected images from the NSSDCA Photo Gallery taken by Voyager 1/2 of:

• the Solar System family

Data coverage charts for on-line, interplanetary datasets at NSSDCA, PDS, and experiment team sites for Voyager 1 and Voyager 2

Related Information/Data at NSSDCA

Other sources of voyager information/data.

Voyager project page (NASA JPL)

Cosmic Ray Subsystem (CRS) (NASA GSFC) Low-Energy Charged Particle (LECP) (JHU/APL) Magnetometer (MAG) (NASA GSFC) Plasma Science (PLS) (MIT) Plasma Wave System (PWS) (U. of Iowa)

NSSDCA Master Catalog Search

• Experiments
• Data Collections
• Publications
• New/Updated Data
• Lunar/Planetary Events
• + Privacy Policy and Important Notices
• NASA Official: Dr. David R. Williams
• Curator: E. Bell, II
• Version 5.1.15, 28 October 2022

You, Too, Could Own a Copy of the Voyager Golden Record

Ozma records is producing a box set of the album sent into the cosmos to reach out to potential extraterrestrial life

Jason Daley

Correspondent

Record collectors shell out tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars for rare discs by the Beatles or early blues artists. However, there’s one disc many collectors (and every space nerds) covets but will never get their hands on: the Golden Record. Now, a group of science enthusiasts and vinyl aficionados have teamed up to make a version of the disc available to the masses.

In 1977, 12-inch gold-plated copper discs were placed aboard the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 space probes. The records were housed in an aluminum sleeve bearing instructions on how to play them and included a needle and a cartridge. The contents, curated by a committee headed by astronomer Carl Sagan, include 115 encoded analog images from Earth, natural sounds like birds, whales, and a baby’s cry, music by Bach, Beethoven, and Chuck Berry, greetings in 55 languages and written messages from then-President Jimmy Carter and U.N. General Secretary Kurt Waldheim.

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

According to Megan Molteni at Wired , NASA pressed a dozen of the records, ten of which were distributed to NASA facilities. The other two are 13 billion miles from Earth on Voyager 1 and 2. Despite his requests, even Carl Sagan never received a copy. Just getting a glimpse of a Golden Record is difficult, reports Kenneth Chang for  The New York Times . A copy of the record's aluminum cover is on display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. The record itself is can be viewed in an auditorium at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California, which is open during public lectures.

That’s why the group calling itself Ozma Records decided to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Voyager launches by reissuing the Golden Record as a box set. Last week, they listed their project on Kickstarter with a goal of raising $198,000 to produce the facsimile. The project blasted past that goal in just two days and at last count received pledges worth $658,000 from almost 5,300 backers.

The $98 reissue isn’t exactly the same as the Voyager disks. For one thing, it’s pressed from yellow vinyl, not actual copper and gold, Chang reports. It will come on 3 LPs, which are designed to be played at 33 rpm, versus the original which plays at 16.5 rpm to accommodate all the photos, messages and 90 minutes of music on a single disc. The box set will also include a hardbound book about the history and production of the record along with printed photos of the images included on the disk. An MP3 version of the audio will also be available for $15.

“When you’re seven years old, and you hear about a group of people creating messages for possible extraterrestrial intelligence,” Ozma Records' David Pescovitz, managing partner at Boing Boing and research director at Institute for the Future, tells Chang, “that sparks the imagination. The idea always stuck with me.”

In 1978, Sagan and his colleagues published Murmurs of the Earth, the story of the Golden Record’s creation, which included a track list from the record. A 1992 CD-ROM of the book was reissued including a digital re-creation of the Golden Record. But this is the first time the public has had access to the recording in the format that an alien civilization may encounter it. The production team is trying to keep the disks as close to the original as possible, and are working with science writer Timothy Ferris, who produced the original, to remaster the recordings.

“The thinking on the original was so genius that who am I to change anything about it, you know?” experienced album designer Lawrence Azerrad, who is curating the album packaging tells Molteni. “It’d be like listening to Mozart and saying, ‘Oh I think that bridge was a little fast.’ This is an awesome snapshot of who we are as the human race, and we want all of that to just sing and be as pure as possible.”

The recently acquired permissions to publish the music on the collection and expects to ship the box sets sometime during 2017, Voyager’s anniversary year.

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Jason Daley is a Madison, Wisconsin-based writer specializing in natural history, science, travel, and the environment. His work has appeared in Discover , Popular Science , Outside , Men’s Journal , and other magazines.

Scientists' predictions for the long-term future of the Voyager Golden Records will blow your mind

Buckle up, everyone, and let's take a ride on a universe-size time machine.

The future is a slippery thing, but sometimes physics can help. And while human destiny will remain ever unknown, the fate of two of our artifacts can be calculated in staggering detail.

Those artifacts are the engraved "Golden Records" strapped to NASA's twin Voyager spacecraft , which have passed into interstellar space. Although the spacecraft will likely fall silent in a few years, the records will remain. Nick Oberg, a doctoral candidate at the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute in the Netherlands, and a colleague wanted to calculate which (if any) stars the two Voyager spacecraft may encounter in the long future of our galaxy.

But the models let them forecast much, much farther into the future. Oberg presented their work at the 237th meeting of the American Astronomical Society , held virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic, on Jan. 12, where he spun a tale of the long future of the twin Voyagers and their Golden Records.

Related: Pale Blue Dot at 30: Voyager 1's iconic photo of Earth from space reveals our place in the universe

NASA launched Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 in 1977 to trek across the solar system. On each was a 12-inch (30 centimeters) large gold-plated copper disk. The brainchild of famed astronomer Carl Sagan, the Golden Records were engraved with music and photographs meant to represent Earth and its humans to any intelligent beings the spacecraft meet on their long journeys. Both spacecraft visited Jupiter and Saturn, then the twins parted ways: Voyager 1 studied Saturn's moon Titan while Voyager 2 swung past Uranus and Neptune. 

In 2012, Voyager 1 passed through the heliopause that marks the edge of the sun's solar wind and entered interstellar space; in 2018, Voyager 2 did so as well. Now, the two spacecraft are chugging through the vast outer reaches of the solar system. They continue to send signals back to Earth, updating humans about their adventures far beyond the planets, although those bulletins may cease in a few years, as the spacecraft are both running low on power .

But their journeys are far from over.

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Oberg and his colleague combined tracking the Voyagers' trajectories forward with studying the environments the spacecraft will fly through to estimate the odds of the Golden Records surviving their adventures while remaining legible. The result is a forecast that stretches beyond not just humanity's likely extinction, but also beyond the collision of the Milky Way with the neighboring Andromeda galaxy — beyond even the extinction of most stars.

Related: The Golden Record in pictures: Voyager probes' message to space explained

Milky Way sightseein

Unsurprisingly, the duo's research ambitions didn't start out quite so vast. The new research was inspired by the release of the second batch of data from the European Space Agency's spacecraft Gaia , which specializes in mapping more than a billion stars super precisely.

"Our original goal was to determine with a very high precision which stars the Voyagers might one day closely encounter using the at the time newly released Gaia catalog of stars," Oberg said during his presentation. So he and his co-author began by tracing the Voyagers' journeys to date and projecting their trajectories out into the future.

But don't get excited for any upcoming milestones. Not until about 20,000 years from now will the Voyagers pass through the Oort cloud — the shell of comets and icy rubble that orbits the sun at a distance of up to 100,000 astronomical units, or 100,000 times the average Earth-sun distance — finally waving goodbye to its solar system of origin.

"At that point for the first time the craft will begin to feel the gravitational pull of other stars more strongly than that of our own sun," Oberg said.

It's another 10,000 years before the spacecraft actually come near an alien star, specifically a red dwarf star called Ross 248. That flyby will occur about 30,000 years from now, Oberg said, although it might be a stretch to say that the spacecraft will pass by that star. "It's actually more like Ross 248 shooting past the nearly stationary Voyagers," he said.

By 500 million years from now, the solar system and the Voyagers alike will complete a full orbit through the Milky Way. There's no way to predict what will have happened on Earth's surface by then, but it's a timespan on the scale of the formation and destruction of Pangaea and other supercontinents, Oberg said.

Throughout this galactic orbit, the Voyager spacecraft will oscillate up and down, with Voyager 1 doing so more dramatically than its twin. According to these models, Voyager 1 will travel so far above the main disk of the galaxy that it will see stars at just half the density as we do.

Odds of destruction

The same difference in vertical motion will also shape the differing odds each spacecraft's Golden Record has of survival.

The records were designed to last, meant to survive perhaps a billion years in space : beneath the golden sheen is a protective aluminum casing and, below that, the engraved copper disks themselves. But to truly understand how long these objects may survive, you have to know what conditions they'll experience, and that means knowing where they will be.

Specifically, Oberg and his colleague needed to know how much time the spacecraft would spend swathed in the Milky Way's vast clouds of interstellar dust , which he called "one of the few phenomena that could actually act to damage the spacecraft."

It's a grim scenario, dust pounding into the Voyagers at a speed of a few miles or kilometers per second. "The grains will act as a steady rain that slowly chips away at the skin of the spacecraft," Oberg said. "A dust grain only one-thousandth of a millimeter across will still leave a small vaporized crater when it impacts."

Voyager 1's vertical oscillations mean that spacecraft will spend more time above and below the plane of the galaxy, where the clouds are thickest. Oberg and his colleague simulated thousands of times over the paths of the two spacecraft and their encounters with the dust clouds, modeling the damage the Golden Records would incur along the way.

That work also requires taking into consideration the possibility that a cloud's gravity might tug at one of the Voyagers' trajectories, Oberg said. "The clouds have so much mass concentrated in one place that they actually may act to bend the trajectory of the spacecraft and fling them into new orbits — sometimes much farther out, sometimes even deeper toward the galactic core."

Both Golden Records have good odds of remaining legible, since their engraved sides are tucked away against the spacecraft bodies. The outer surface of Voyager 1's record is more likely to erode away, but the information on Voyager 2's record is more likely to become illegible, Oberg said.

"The main reason for this is because the orbit that Voyager 2 is flung into is more chaotic, and it's significantly more difficult to predict with any certainty of exactly what sort of environment it's going to be flying through," he said.

But despite the onslaught and potential detours, "Both Golden Records are highly likely to survive at least partially intact for a span of over 5 billion years," Oberg said.

Related: Photos from NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 probes

After the Milky Way's end

After those 5 billion years, modeling is tricky. That's when the Milky Way is due to collide with its massive neighbor, the Andromeda galaxy , and things get messy. "The orderly spiral shape will be severely warped, and possibly destroyed entirely," Oberg said. The Voyagers will be caught up in the merger, with the details difficult to predict so far in advance.

Meanwhile, the vicarious sightseeing continues. Oberg and his colleague calculated that in this 5-billion-year model-friendly period, each of the Voyagers likely visits a star besides our sun within about 150 times the distance between Earth and the sun, or three times the distance between the sun and Pluto at the dwarf planet's most distant point.

Precisely which star that might be, however, is tricky — it may not even be a star we know today.

"While neither Voyager is likely to get particularly close to any star before the galaxies collide, the craft are likely to at least pass through the outskirts of some [star] system," Oberg said. "The very strange part is that that actually might be a system that does not yet exist, of a star that has yet to be born."

Such are the perils of working on a scale of billions of years.

From here, the Voyagers' fate depends on the conditions of the galactic merger , Oberg said.

The collision itself might kick a spacecraft out of the newly monstrous galaxy — a one in five chance, he said — although it would remain stuck in the neighborhood. If that occurs, the biggest threat to the Golden Records would become collisions with high-energy cosmic rays and the odd molecule of hot gas, Oberg said; these impacts would be rarer than the dust that characterized their damage inside the Milky Way.

Inside the combined galaxy, the Voyagers' fate would depend on how much dust is left behind by the merger; Oberg said that may well be minimal as star formation and explosion both slow, reducing the amount of dust flung into the galaxy.

Depending on their luck with this dust, the Voyagers may be able to ride out trillions of trillions of trillions of years, long enough to cruise through a truly alien cosmos, Oberg said.

"Such a distant time is far beyond the point where stars have exhausted their fuel and star formation has ceased in its entirety in the universe," he said. "The Voyagers will be drifting through what would be, to us, a completely unrecognizable galaxy, free of so-called main-sequence stars , populated almost exclusively by black holes and stellar remnants such as a white dwarfs and neutron stars."

It's a dark future, Oberg added. "The only source of significant illumination in this epoch will be supernovas that results from the once-in-a-trillion-year collision between these stellar remnants that still populate the galaxy," he said. "Our work, found on these records, thus may bear witness to these isolated flashes in the dark."

Email Meghan Bartels at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @meghanbartels. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

China has made it to Mars .

The nation's first fully homegrown Mars mission, Tianwen-1 , arrived in orbit around the Red Planet today (Feb. 10), according to Chinese media reports.

The milestone makes China the sixth entity to get a probe to Mars, joining the United States, the Soviet Union, the European Space Agency, India and the United Arab Emirates, whose Hope orbiter made it to the Red Planet just yesterday (Feb. 9).

And today's achievement sets the stage for something even more epic a few months from now — the touchdown of Tianwen-1's lander-rover pair on a large plain in Mars' northern hemisphere called Utopia Planitia , which is expected to take place this May. (China doesn't typically publicize details of its space missions in advance, so we don't know for sure exactly when that landing will occur.)

Related: Here's what China's Tianwen-1 Mars mission will do See more: China's Tianwen-1 Mars mission in photos

Book of Mars: <a href="https://www.awin1.com/awclick.php?awinmid=2961&awinaffid=103504&clickref=hawk-custom-tracking&p=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.magazinesdirect.com%2Faz-magazines%2F6942884%2Fbook-of-mars-2nd-edition.thtml" data-link-merchant="magazinesdirect.com"" target="_blank"> $22.99 at Magazines Direct

Within 148 pages, explore the mysteries of Mars. With the latest generation of rovers, landers and orbiters heading to the Red Planet, we're discovering even more of this world's secrets than ever before. Find out about its landscape and formation, discover the truth about water on Mars and the search for life, and explore the possibility that the fourth rock from the sun may one day be our next home.

An ambitious mission

China took its first crack at Mars back in November 2011, with an orbiter called Yinghuo-1 that launched with Russia's Phobos-Grunt sample-return mission . But Phobos-Grunt never made it out of Earth orbit, and Yinghuo-1 crashed and burned with the Russian probe and another tagalong, the Planetary Society's Living Interplanetary Flight Experiment.

Tianwen-1 ( which means "Questioning the Heavens" ) is a big step up from Yinghuo-1, however. For starters, this current mission is an entirely China-led affair; it was developed by the China National Space Administration (with some international collaboration) and launched atop a Chinese Long March 5 rocket on July 23, 2020.

Tianwen-1 is also far more ambitious than the earlier orbiter, which weighed a scant 254 lbs. (115 kilograms). Tianwen-1 tipped the scales at about 11,000 lbs. (5,000 kg) at launch, and it consists of an orbiter and a lander-rover duo.

These craft will take Mars' measure in a variety of ways. The orbiter, for example, will study the planet from above using a high-resolution camera, a spectrometer, a magnetometer and an ice-mapping radar instrument, among other scientific gear.

The orbiter will also relay communications from the rover, which sports an impressive scientific suite of its own. Among the rover's gear are cameras, climate and geology instruments and ground-penetrating radar, which will hunt for pockets of water beneath Mars' red dirt. 

Occupy Mars: History of robotic Red Planet missions (infographic)

"On Earth, these pockets can host thriving microbial communities, so detecting them on Mars would be an important step in our search for life on other worlds," the Planetary Society wrote in a description of the Tianwen-1 mission .

The lander, meanwhile, will serve as a platform for the rover, deploying a ramp that the wheeled vehicle will roll down onto the Martian surface. The setup is similar to the one China has used on the moon with its Chang'e 3 and Chang'e 4 rovers, the latter of which is still going strong on Earth's rocky satellite.

If the Tianwen-1 rover and lander touch down safely this May and get to work, China will become just the second nation, after the United States, to operate a spacecraft successfully on the Red Planet's surface for an appreciable amount of time. (The Soviet Union pulled off the first-ever soft touchdown on the Red Planet with its Mars 3 mission in 1971, but that lander died less than two minutes after hitting the red dirt.)

The Tianwen-1 orbiter is scheduled to operate for at least one Mars year (about 687 Earth days), and the rover's targeted lifetime is 90 Mars days, or sols (about 93 Earth days).

Bigger things to come?

Tianwen-1 will be just China's opening act at Mars, if all goes according to plan: The nation aims to haul pristine samples of Martian material back to Earth by 2030, where they can be examined in detail for potential signs of life and clues about Mars' long-ago transition from a relatively warm and wet planet to the cold desert world it is today.

NASA has similar ambitions, and the first stage of its Mars sample-return campaign is already underway. The agency's Perseverance rover will touch down inside the Red Planet's Jezero Crater next Thursday (Feb. 18), kicking off a surface mission whose top-level tasks include searching for signs of ancient Mars life and collecting and caching several dozen samples.

Perseverance's samples will be hauled home by a joint NASA-European Space Agency campaign, perhaps as early as 2031 .

So we have a lot to look forward to in the coming days and weeks, and many reasons to keep our fingers crossed for multiple successful Red Planet touchdowns.

"More countries exploring Mars and our solar system means more discoveries and opportunities for global collaboration," the Planetary Society wrote in its Tianwen-1 description. "Space exploration brings out the best in us all, and when nations work together everyone wins."

Mike Wall is the author of " Out There " (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook. 

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

Meghan is a senior writer at Space.com and has more than five years' experience as a science journalist based in New York City. She joined Space.com in July 2018, with previous writing published in outlets including Newsweek and Audubon. Meghan earned an MA in science journalism from New York University and a BA in classics from Georgetown University, and in her free time she enjoys reading and visiting museums. Follow her on Twitter at @meghanbartels.

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• The Contents
• The Making of
• Where Are They Now
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Q & A with Ed Stone

golden record

Where are they now.

• frequently asked questions
• Q&A with Ed Stone

Images on the Golden Record

The following is a listing of pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft. The contents of the record were selected for NASA by a committee chaired by Carl Sagan of Cornell University, et. al. Dr. Sagan and his associates assembled 115 images and a variety of natural sounds, such as those made by surf, wind and thunder, birds, whales, and other animals. To this they added musical selections from different cultures and eras, and spoken greetings from Earth-people in fifty-five languages, and printed messages from President Carter and U.N. Secretary General Waldheim. Each record is encased in a protective aluminum jacket, together with a cartridge and a needle. Instructions, in symbolic language, explain the origin of the spacecraft and indicate how the record is to be played. The 115 images are encoded in analog form. The remainder of the record is in audio, designed to be played at 16-2/3 revolutions per minute. It contains the spoken greetings, beginning with Akkadian, which was spoken in Sumer about six thousand years ago, and ending with Wu, a modern Chinese dialect. Following the section on the sounds of Earth, there is an eclectic 90-minute selection of music, including both Eastern and Western classics and a variety of ethnic music. Once the Voyager spacecraft leave the solar system, they will find themselves in empty space. It will be forty thousand years before they make a close approach to any other planetary system.

A list of images included on The Golden Record, but are not viewable, is listed at the bottom of this page .

Calibration circle

The calibration circle image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Credit: Jon Lomberg Please note that these images are copyright protected. Reproduction without permission of the copyright holder is prohibited.

Solar location map

The solar location map image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Credit: Frank Drake Please note that these images are copyright protected. Reproduction without permission of the copyright holder is prohibited.

Mathematical definitions

The mathematical definitions image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Physical unit definitions

The physical unit definitions image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Solar system parameters

The solar system parameters image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Solar spectrum

The solar spectrum image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Credit: National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center, Cornell University (NAIC) Please note that these images are copyright protected. Reproduction without permission of the copyright holder is prohibited.

The Mercury image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Credit: NASA Please note that these images are copyright protected. Reproduction without permission of the copyright holder is prohibited.

The Mars image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

The Jupiter image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

The Earth image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Egypt, Red Sea, Sinal Peninsula and the Nile

The Egypt, Red Sea, Sinal Peninsula and the Nile image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Chemical definitions

The chemical definitions image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

DNA structure

The DNA structure image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

DNA structure magnified, light hit

The DNA structure magnified, light hit image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Diagram of conception

The diagram of conception image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Fetus diagram

The fetus diagram image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Diagram of male and female

Nursing mother.

The nursing mother image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Credit UN/DPI Photo Please note that these images are copyright protected. Reproduction without permission of the copyright holder is prohibited.

Diagram of family ages

The diagram of family ages image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Diagram of continental drift

The diagram of continental drift image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Structure of Earth

The structure of Earth image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Heron Island (Great Barrier Reef of Australia)

The Heron Island (Great Barrier Reef of Australia) image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Credit: Dr. Jay M. Pasachoff Please note that these images are copyright protected. Reproduction without permission of the copyright holder is prohibited.

Diagram of vertebrate evolution

The diagram of vertebrate evolution image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Sketch of bushmen

The sketch of bushmen image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Man from Guatemala

The man from Guatemala image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Credit: UN/DPI Photo Please note that these images are copyright protected. Reproduction without permission of the copyright holder is prohibited.

Sprinters (Valeri Borzov of the U.S.S.R. in lead)

The sprinters (Valeri Borzov of the U.S.S.R. in lead) image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Credit: History of the Olympics, Picturepoint, London Please note that these images are copyright protected. Reproduction without permission of the copyright holder is prohibited.

The schoolroom image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Children with globe

The children with globe image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Supermarket

The supermarket image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Credit: National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC) Please note that these images are copyright protected. Reproduction without permission of the copyright holder is prohibited.

Fishing boat with nets

The fishing boat with nets image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Demonstration of licking, eating and drinking

The demonstration of licking, eating and drinking image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

House construction (African)

The house construction (African) image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

House (Africa)

The house (Africa) image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Modern house (Cloudcroft, New Mexico)

The modern house (Cloudcroft, New Mexico) image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

UN Building Day

The UN building day image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

UN Building Night

The UN building night image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

X-ray of hand

The X-ray of hand image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Woman with microscope

The woman with microscope image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Street scene

The street scene image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Rush hour traffic (Thailand)

Modern highway.

The modern highway image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Airplane in flight

The airplane in flight image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Radio telescope (Arecibo)

The radio telescope (Arecibo) image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Page of book (Newton, System of the World)

The page of book (Newton, System of the World) image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Astronaut in space

The astronaut in space image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Titan Centaur launch

The Titan Centaur launch image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Violin with music score (Cavatina)

The violin with music score (Cavatina) image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

• Due to copyright restrictions, only a subset of the images on the Golden Record are displayed above.
• All of these images are copyright protected. Reproduction without permission of the copyright holder is prohibited.

List of additional images, not featured in gallery, but exist on The Golden Record:

• The Sun, Hale observatories
• Cells and cell division, Turtox/Cambosco
• Anatomy 1, World Book
• Anatomy 2, World Book
• Anatomy 3, World Book
• Anatomy 4, World Book
• Anatomy 5, World Book
• Anatomy 6, World Book
• Anatomy 7, World Book
• Anatomy 8, World Book
• Human sex organs, Sinauer Associates, Inc.
• Conception , Albert Bonniers; Forlag, Stockholm
• Fertilized ovum, Albert Bonniers; Forlag, Stockholm
• Fetus, Dr. Frank Allan
• Birth, Wayne Miller
• Father and daughter (Malaysia), David Harvey
• Group of children, Ruby Mera, UNICEF
• Family portrait, Nina Leen, Time, Inc.
• Seashore, Dick Smith
• Snake River and Grand Tetons, Ansel Adams
• Sand dunes, George Mobley
• Monument Valley, Shostal Associates, Inc.
• Forest scene with mushrooms, Bruce Dale
• Leaf, Arthur Herrick
• Fallen leaves, Jodi Cobb
• Snowflake over Sequoia, Josef Muench, R. Sisson
• Tree with daffodils, Gardens Winterthur, Winterthur Museum
• Flying insect with flowers, Borne on the Wind, Stephen Dalton
• Seashell (Xancidae), Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
• Dolphins, Thomas Nebbia
• School of fish, David Doubilet
• Tree toad, Dave Wickstrom
• Crocodile, Peter Beard
• Eagle, Donona, Taplinger Publishing Co.
• Waterhole, South African Tourist Corp.
• Jane Goodall and chimps, Vanne Morris-Goodall
• Bushmen hunters, R. Farbman, Time, Inc.
• Dancer from Bali, donna Grosvenor
• Andean girls, Joseph Scherschel
• Thailand craftsman, Dean conger
• Elephant, Peter Kunstadter
• 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
• Cotton harvest, Howell Walker
• Grape picker, David Moore
• Underwater scene with diver and fish, Jerry Greenberg
• Cooking fish, Cooking of Spain and Portugal, Time-Life Books
• Chinese dinner party, Time-Life Books
• Great Wall of China, H. Edward Kim
• Construction scene (Amish country), William Albert Allard
• House (New England), Robert Sisson
• House interior with artist and fire, Jim Amos
• Taj Mahal, David Carroll
• English city (Oxford), C.S. Lewis, Images of His World, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
• Boston, Ted Spiegel
• Sydney Opera House, Mike Long
• Artisan with drill, Frank Hewlett
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NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft is talking nonsense. Its friends on Earth are worried

Nell Greenfieldboyce

This artist's impression shows one of the Voyager spacecraft moving through the darkness of space. NASA/JPL-Caltech hide caption

This artist's impression shows one of the Voyager spacecraft moving through the darkness of space.

The last time Stamatios "Tom" Krimigis saw the Voyager 1 space probe in person, it was the summer of 1977, just before it launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Now Voyager 1 is over 15 billion miles away, beyond what many consider to be the edge of the solar system. Yet the on-board instrument Krimigis is in charge of is still going strong.

"I am the most surprised person in the world," says Krimigis — after all, the spacecraft's original mission to Jupiter and Saturn was only supposed to last about four years.

These days, though, he's also feeling another emotion when he thinks of Voyager 1.

"Frankly, I'm very worried," he says.

Ever since mid-November, the Voyager 1 spacecraft has been sending messages back to Earth that don't make any sense. It's as if the aging spacecraft has suffered some kind of stroke that's interfering with its ability to speak.

"It basically stopped talking to us in a coherent manner," says Suzanne Dodd of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who has been the project manager for the Voyager interstellar mission since 2010. "It's a serious problem."

Instead of sending messages home in binary code, Voyager 1 is now just sending back alternating 1s and 0s. Dodd's team has tried the usual tricks to reset things — with no luck.

It looks like there's a problem with the onboard computer that takes data and packages it up to send back home. All of this computer technology is primitive compared to, say, the key fob that unlocks your car, says Dodd.

"The button you press to open the door of your car, that has more compute power than the Voyager spacecrafts do," she says. "It's remarkable that they keep flying, and that they've flown for 46-plus years."

Each of the Voyager probes carries an American flag and a copy of a golden record that can play greetings in many languages. NASA/JPL-Caltech hide caption

Each of the Voyager probes carries an American flag and a copy of a golden record that can play greetings in many languages.

Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2, have outlasted many of those who designed and built them. So to try to fix Voyager 1's current woes, the dozen or so people on Dodd's team have had to pore over yellowed documents and old mimeographs.

"They're doing a lot of work to try and get into the heads of the original developers and figure out why they designed something the way they did and what we could possibly try that might give us some answers to what's going wrong with the spacecraft," says Dodd.

She says that they do have a list of possible fixes. As time goes on, they'll likely start sending commands to Voyager 1 that are more bold and risky.

"The things that we will do going forward are probably more challenging in the sense that you can't tell exactly if it's going to execute correctly — or if you're going to maybe do something you didn't want to do, inadvertently," says Dodd.

Linda Spilker , who serves as the Voyager mission's project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, says that when she comes to work she sees "all of these circuit diagrams up on the wall with sticky notes attached. And these people are just having a great time trying to troubleshoot, you know, the 60's and 70's technology."

"I'm cautiously optimistic," she says. "There's a lot of creativity there."

Still, this is a painstaking process that could take weeks, or even months. Voyager 1 is so distant, it takes almost a whole day for a signal to travel out there, and then a whole day for its response to return.

"We'll keep trying," says Dodd, "and it won't be quick."

In the meantime, Voyager's 1 discombobulation is a bummer for researchers like Stella Ocker , an astronomer with Caltech and the Carnegie Observatories

"We haven't been getting science data since this anomaly started," says Ocker, "and what that means is that we don't know what the environment that the spacecraft is traveling through looks like."

After 35 Years, Voyager Nears Edge Of Solar System

That interstellar environment isn't just empty darkness, she says. It contains stuff like gas, dust, and cosmic rays. Only the twin Voyager probes are far out enough to sample this cosmic stew.

"The science that I'm really interested in doing is actually only possible with Voyager 1," says Ocker, because Voyager 2 — despite being generally healthy for its advanced age — can't take the particular measurements she needs for her research.

Even if NASA's experts and consultants somehow come up with a miraculous plan that can get Voyager 1 back to normal, its time is running out.

The two Voyager probes are powered by plutonium, but that power system will eventually run out of juice. Mission managers have turned off heaters and taken other measures to conserve power and extend the Voyager probes' lifespan.

"My motto for a long time was 50 years or bust," says Krimigis with a laugh, "but we're sort of approaching that."

In a couple of years, the ebbing power supply will force managers to start turning off science instruments, one by one. The very last instrument might keep going until around 2030 or so.

When the power runs out and the probes are lifeless, Krimigis says both of these legendary space probes will basically become "space junk."

"It pains me to say that," he says. While Krimigis has participated in space missions to every planet, he says the Voyager program has a special place in his heart.

Spilker points out that each spacecraft will keep moving outward, carrying its copy of a golden record that has recorded greetings in many languages, along with the sounds of Earth.

"The science mission will end. But a part of Voyager and a part of us will continue on in the space between the stars," says Spilker, noting that the golden records "may even outlast humanity as we know it."

Krimigis, though, doubts that any alien will ever stumble across a Voyager probe and have a listen.

"Space is empty," he says, "and the probability of Voyager ever running into a planet is probably slim to none."

It will take about 40,000 years for Voyager 1 to approach another star; it will come within 1.7 light years of what NASA calls "an obscure star in the constellation Ursa Minor" — also known as the Little Dipper.

If NASA greenlights this interstellar mission, it could last 100 years

Knowing that the Voyager probes are running out of time, scientists have been drawing up plans for a new mission that, if funded and launched by NASA, would send another probe even farther out into the space between stars.

"If it happens, it would launch in the 2030s," says Ocker, "and it would reach twice as far as Voyager 1 in just 50 years."

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Where does the solar system end?

The location of the solar system's outer boundary is a point of contention among astronomers. There are three possible candidates, which "all have merit." But which one is best?

The solar system is an enormous place. Our cosmic neighborhood includes eight planets, around half a dozen dwarf planets, several hundred moons and millions of asteroids and comets, all spinning around the sun — and in many cases each other —at speeds of thousands of miles per hour, like a giant top.

But where does it end? Well, the answer may depend on whom you ask and how they define the solar system .

There are not one, but three potential boundaries to the solar system, according to NASA : the Kuiper Belt, the ring of rocky bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune ; the heliopause, the edge of the sun's magnetic field ; and the Oort Cloud, a distant reservoir of comets that are barely visible from Earth. 

The arguments for each boundary "all have merit," which makes choosing between them complicated, Dan Reisenfeld , a researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, told Live Science in an email. 

But there is one that most astronomers most commonly agree upon.

Related: Have all 8 planets ever aligned?  

Kuiper Belt

The Kuiper Belt stretches between 30 and 50 astronomical units (AU) away from the sun , according to NASA . (One astronomical unit is equal to the distance between Earth and the sun.) 

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This region is filled with asteroids and dwarf planets, such as Pluto , that have been ejected from the inner solar system by one-sided gravitational tugs-of-war with the planets.

Some astronomers argue that the Kuiper Belt should be considered the edge of the solar system because it loosely represents the edge of where the sun's protoplanetary disk — the swirling ring of gas and dust that later became the planets, moons and asteroids — would have been.

"If one narrowly defines the solar system as just the sun and its planetary bodies, then the edge of the Kuiper Belt can be considered to be the edge of the solar system," Reisenfeld said. 

But this definition of the solar system is considered to be far too simple by some astronomers, such as Caltech's Mike Brown . 

"It's not really true," Brown told Live Science in an email. "Things have moved around a lot — mostly outward — since the planets were formed." This means the Kuiper Belt does not contain all of the solar system's "stuff," such as the elusive, hypothetical Planet Nine , which (if it exists) likely lies far beyond the Kuiper Belt .

In October 2023, the discovery of a dozen new objects beyond the Kuiper Belt also hinted that there may be a "second Kuiper Belt" lurking even further out. 

The uncertainty around this region's own outer edge therefore makes it an unreliable boundary for the solar system as a whole, some researchers argue.

The heliopause is the outer edge of the sun's magnetic influence, known as the heliosphere. At this point, the stream of charged particles emitted by the sun, known as the solar wind, becomes too weak to repel the oncoming stream of radiation from stars and other cosmic entities in the Milky Way . 

"Because the plasma inside the heliopause is of solar origin, and the plasma outside the heliopause is of interstellar origin, some people consider the heliopause to be the boundary of the solar system," Reisenfeld said. As a result, the space beyond the heliopause is also often referred to as "interstellar space," or the space between stars , he added.

Two spacecraft have traveled beyond the heliopause: Voyager 1 , which made the crossing in 2012, and Voyager 2, which crossed over in 2018. As the Voyager probes crossed the heliopause, they quickly detected changes in the types and levels of magnetism and radiation hitting them, signifying that they had crossed some kind of border, Brown said.

However, despite its name, the heliosphere is not a perfect sphere . Instead, it is more of an oblong blob because most of the interstellar plasma bombarding the solar system hits us from one direction, which creates a bow shock — a rounded shock wave that deflects incoming radiation around the rest of the solar system. The bow shock is located around 120 AU from the sun, and creates a long tail that stretches at least 350 AU from the sun in the opposite direction.

Using the heliopause to delineate the solar system therefore leaves us with a lopsided neighborhood, which goes against some researchers perceptions of planetary systems.

The Oort Cloud is the furthest and most expansive potential solar system boundary, extending up to around 100,000 AU from the sun, according to NASA . 

"People who define the solar system as everything that is gravitationally bound to the Sun consider the edge of the Oort cloud to be the edge of the solar system," Reisenfeld said.

For some researchers, this is the clear choice for a solar system boundary because in theory, a planetary system consists of all objects orbiting a star.

"I don't understand how anyone considers anything other than the Oort Cloud to be the edge of the solar system," Sean Raymond , an astronomer at the Bordeaux Astrophysics Laboratory in France, told Live Science in an email. "Any other definition seems ludicrous. It is literally the edge of where something can orbit the Sun."

However, other researchers believe that because the Oort Cloud is located in interstellar space, it lies beyond the solar system even if it is bound to our home star. 

There is also a large amount of uncertainty about where the Oort Cloud actually ends, which some would argue makes it just as unreliable a border as the Kuiper Belt.

Which boundary is best? 

Out of the three possible boundaries, the heliopause is the one that is most often used by researchers, and by NASA, to define the solar system's edge. This is because it is the easiest to pin down and because the magnetic properties on either side of it are significantly different.

"I would argue for the heliopause to be the boundary because it really is a boundary," Reisenfeld said. "Once you've passed it, you know it."

— How many times has Earth orbited the sun?

— How many times has the sun traveled around the Milky Way?

— What's the maximum number of planets that could orbit the sun?

But that doesn't mean that everything beyond the heliopause should be considered an interstellar object, such as the enormous space rock 'Oumuamua , Reisenfeld added. "The Oort Cloud was originally part of the same stuff that the planets were formed from, so it is composed of solar system material, not interstellar material," he said.

But while some researchers are happy to pick a side in this argument, others see no reason why the solar system cannot have multiple boundaries.

"I would say that there is no actual debate," Brown said. "There are just different ways to define it depending on what is important for the question you are trying to answer."

Harry is a U.K.-based senior staff writer at Live Science. He studied marine biology at the University of Exeter before training to become a journalist. He covers a wide range of topics including space exploration, planetary science, space weather, climate change, animal behavior, evolution and paleontology. His feature on the upcoming solar maximum was shortlisted in the "top scoop" category at the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) Awards for Excellence in 2023. 

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• Beauxdensteiner I'd say that all three together form the boundary of the solar system because when you are out there at that very large edge of the bubble, everything that has definition to the outer edge of the bubble must be part of it. All three are part of that boundary and it is just too big for us to get our tiny human brains wrapped around it. Reply
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NASA optimistic about resolving Voyager 1 computer problem

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WASHINGTON — A NASA official says he is optimistic that a problem with the Voyager 1 spacecraft that has kept it from transmitting intelligible data for months can be resolved.

Speaking at a March 20 meeting of the National Academies’ Committee on Solar and Space Physics, Joseph Westlake, director of NASA’s heliophysics division, said it appeared possible to fix the computer problem on the nearly 50-year-old spacecraft that has disrupted operations since last November.

“I feel like we’re on a path now to resolution,” he said. “They’re on the right path and I think we’re going to get to a point where Voyager 1 is going to continue, alive and kicking in space.”

Spacecraft controllers first noticed a problem with the spacecraft in November, when the data transmitted by the spacecraft was unusable. Engineers concluded that the problem was with an onboard computer called the flight data system (FDS), which collects data from the spacecraft’s instruments and other spacecraft telemetry.

Several factors have hampered efforts to correct the problem. Voyager 1, launched in 1977, is now more than 24 billion kilometers from Earth, which means it takes 22.5 hours for signals to travel between Earth and the spacecraft. None of the people who developed the FDS in the early to mid 1970s are available to assist now, so the project has had to turn to documentation to help identify the problem.

NASA announced March 13 progress in fixing the FDS when a command called a “poke” was transmitted to Voyager, and the spacecraft responded by sending back a readout of its memory. The agency said at the time it will compare that readout to one transmitted before the problem to help identify the issue.

Westlake said at the committee meeting that the problem appears to be a corrupted memory unit on the spacecraft. “It’s a part failure on one of the memories and they’re looking for a way to move a couple hundred words of software from one region to another in the flight computer,” he said. A word is two bytes.

He did not estimate how long it would take to make those software changes. NASA, in its latest statement about the spacecraft, said that using the FDS memory readout “to devise a potential solution and attempt to put it into action will take time.”

Jeff Foust writes about space policy, commercial space, and related topics for SpaceNews. He earned a Ph.D. in planetary sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree with honors in geophysics and planetary science... More by Jeff Foust

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The Golden Record

The definitive work about the Voyager record is Murmurs of Earth by Sagan, Drake, Lomberg, et.al. Originally published in 1978, it was reissued in 1992 by Warner News Media and includes a CD-ROM that replicates the Voyager record. Unfortunately, this book is now out of print.

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Tips for viewing the upcoming solar eclipse safely

Spectators gaze at an annular, or "ring of fire," solar eclipse in October 2023 from the CU Boulder campus. (Credit: Glenn Asakawa/CU Boulder)  

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On April 8, a once-in-a-lifetime event is coming to parts of the United States. Beginning around 12:30 p.m. mountain time, the face of the moon will completely block out light from the sun, casting a shadow over Texas, then portions of the Midwest and eastern United States.

Eclipse ‘magic’: Students traveling to Texas for astronomical event

Colorado will only witness a partial solar eclipse, with about two-thirds of the sun’s surface covered. But it will still be quite a show, said Jimmy Negus, a solar scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at CU Boulder. 

Negus works in a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) lab in Boulder as part of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) missions. These instruments in space keep a close eye on the sun, capturing the tremendous flares that burst out from around the star. This year he’ll observe the eclipse, along with thousands of other people, from the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden.

He gives his take on how people in Colorado and beyond can view the eclipse safely—and why this year’s event is not something you want to miss. 

Jimmy Negus

What’s happening on April 8?

The answer may sound like something from a science fiction film. During a total solar eclipse, our moon, which orbits our planet once every 27 days, completely obscures the surface of the sun. 

You might ask, ‘Well, isn't the moon a lot smaller than the sun?’ And you'd be right. The moon is about 400 times smaller than the sun. However, the moon is also about 400 times closer to Earth than the sun. This allows the moon to completely obscure the solar disk. The shadow from that occurrence is what we see projected onto Earth. 

Where can people see it?

The total solar eclipse is going to travel from west to east. It will start in Mexico and travel through Texas, through Dallas specifically, up toward Oklahoma and Missouri, and then through Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont and Maine.

What about here in Colorado?

In Colorado, unfortunately, we're not going to see totality. We'll see about 65% of totality. While you might notice some dimming and some shadows, you will never see full darkness like you would with the total solar eclipse. That being said, it's still fascinating to see the interplay between the Earth, moon and the sun.

What is a total solar eclipse like?

I had the wonderful opportunity to see an eclipse in 2017. I traveled to Grand Teton National Park, and I have not seen anything more spectacular since. 

The feeling is indescribable. The sky turns black. Planets and stars are visible. The temperature drops. Animals that are usually active like songbirds go quiet. Nocturnal animals like owls become active.

How can people view an eclipse safely?

It is an absolute must to use solar eclipse glasses anytime the sun is not totally obscured. During full totality, it's safe to remove your glasses and to observe the wonderful sight of the sun’s surface being obscured. But as soon as the moon begins to go off disk, and the sunlight returns, you’ll want to make sure you have your solar eclipse glasses back on.

 Get more eclipse safety tips from NASA

In Colorado, will we have to wear glasses at all times?

Yes. In Colorado, the sun’s surface will never be fully obscured. That means that the eclipse glasses must be worn at all times to protect your eyes.

How have eclipses been important to people throughout history?

Ancient Chinese civilizations looked up and saw eclipses. They saw dragons consuming the sun. And, in fact, during their eclipses, they banged pots and pans to scare the dragons. For ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations, they saw total solar eclipses as bad omens. These events dramatically influenced much of their governmental policies.

What kind of research can scientists do during an eclipse?

During a total solar eclipse, the super bright surface of the sun is obscured. Beyond the photosphere, the sun’s surface, is the chromosphere, which is a less dense atmosphere. There's also the solar corona above that, which is a few million degrees Celsius. A total solar eclipse provides us with a rare opportunity to purely observe the sun's atmosphere.

Do you recommend that people check out this eclipse?

There are very few occurrences here on Earth that can mimic the grandeur of seeing the sun, something we are so used to observing daily, be obscured. I would highly encourage anyone along the path or close to the path to make the effort. Many people who see an eclipse once or twice become lifelong eclipse chasers.

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March 23, 2024 Shooting at Moscow concert venue leaves over 130 dead

By Chris Lau, Andrew Raine , Catherine Nicholls, Issy Ronald, Lauren Said-Moorhouse and Tori B. Powell , CNN

Our live coverage of the Moscow concert venue shooting has moved here.

North Korea’s Kim Jong Un sends condolences to Russia’s Putin over deadly Moscow attack

From CNN’s Sophie Jeong and Manveena Suri

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has offered his condolences to Russian President Vladimir Putin following the deadly concert attack in Moscow, state media Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Sunday.

Kim “expressed deep condolences and sympathy” to Putin, the Russian people, the victims and their families on the news of heavy casualties caused by a “large-scale terrorist attack in (the) Moscow region,” KCNA reported.

North Korea opposes “all sorts of terrorism and nothing can justify the heinous terrorism threatening human life,” Kim said in the KCNA report. “Our people regard the misfortune and sorrow of the friendly Russian people as their own pain.”

ISIS releases graphic video they claim shows Russia concert hall attack

From CNN's Kareem El Damanhoury and Paul Murphy

ISIS-affiliated news agency Amaq released a graphic video on Saturday that purports to show Friday’s attack at a concert hall in suburban Moscow recorded by one of the attackers, suggesting the perpetrators had a direct link to ISIS in order to be able to send the video.

CNN has geolocated it to the concert hall and notes that its identifying metadata has been erased.

The video, which is about 90 seconds long, shows four attackers with their faces blurred and voices distorted in what appears to be the Crocus City Hall complex.

The video shows one attacker signaling to another gunman, who then walks past a door where people are hiding and opens fire on them.

Bodies and blood can be seen on the floor, with fire raging at a distance.

The video also shows one of the attackers slitting the throat of a man lying on his back.

The video ends with the four attackers walking away inside the building as smoke can be seen at a distance.

On Friday, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, according to a short statement published by Amaq.

On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested Ukraine was behind the attack, stating the perpetrators had “tried to hide and moved towards Ukraine, where, according to preliminary data, a window was prepared for them on the Ukrainian side to cross the border.”

Ukraine has vehemently denied any connection to Friday's attack.

Company that owns Crocus City Hall venue calls attack a "monstrous tragedy"

From CNN's Masha Angelova

The Russian company Crocus International, which owns Crocus City Hall, expressed its deep condolences in a statement Sunday to the victims of the terrorist attack at the concert hall in the Moscow region Friday, which left more than 130 people dead.

"Together with the whole of Russia, we mourn the dead and hope for a speedy recovery of those who’ve suffered in this monstrous tragedy," the company said. "In these difficult days, we are doing and will do everything possible to help the authorities and special services with their difficult work, and together with the whole country help victims of the terrorist attack."

The statement thanked concert-goers, partners and artists for their support and assistance.

"Special thanks to the concert hall team, who acted professionally, clearly, and heroically in a crisis situation, and thanks to this, managed to save most of the guests and employees who were in Crocus City Hall that evening," it continued.

White House says there was "no Ukrainian involvement whatsoever" in Moscow region onslaught

From CNN's Natasha Bertrand and Samantha Waldenberg

US Vice President Kamala Harris and the White House National Security Council said there is no evidence that Ukraine is behind the attack at a concert hall near Moscow.

“There is no, whatsoever, any evidence — and in fact, what we know to be the case is that ISIS-K is actually, by all accounts, responsible for what happened,” Harris said in an interview with ABC News. “What has happened is an act of terrorism and the number of people who've been killed is obviously a tragedy and we should all send our condolences to those families."

National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said:

"In early March, the US government shared information with Russia about a planned terrorist attack in Moscow. We also issued a public advisory to Americans in Russia on March 7. ISIS bears sole responsibility for this attack. There was no Ukrainian involvement whatsoever."

US had warned Russia ISIS was determined to attack | CNN

Here's what you should know about the moscow area concert venue shooting.

From CNN staff

A Friday night attack at Crocus City Hall, a popular concert venue complex near Moscow, left more than 130 people killed and even more wounded after assailants stormed the venue with guns and incendiary devices. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack, without providing evidence.

Four suspects involved in the attack were detained in the Bryansk region and taken to Moscow, where they are now in the custody of Russia's Investigative Committee, Russian state media TASS reported Saturday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said "miserable" Russian President Vladimir Putin waited   overnight before publicly addressing Russians, only to accuse   Ukraine of having a hand in the terror attack at a concert hall near Moscow.

Here are other headlines you should know:

• More on the attack: According to the interior ministry, “all terrorists detained in the Bryansk region are foreign citizens ,” Russian state media reported. RIA Novosti published on Telegram the purported confession of one of the apprehended men. CNN cannot independently verify the RIA Novosti report or the statements made by the alleged attacker, which may have been made under duress.
• Ukraine vehemently denies any connection: Defense Intelligence of Ukraine spokesperson Andrii Yusov firmly denied his country had anything to do with the terror attack. Earlier Saturday, Putin  told the Russian people  that the perpetrators had “tried to hide and moved towards Ukraine, where, according to preliminary data, a window was prepared for them on the Ukrainian side to cross the border." A handful of Russian officials have suggested  without evidence  that Ukraine may have been involved in the attack as well.
• Global reactions: Leaders around the world — such as the French, Israeli and Turkish presidents — have expressed their condolences and condemnation of the onslaught. The United States “ strongly condemns ” the shooting, according to the White House and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also denounced the attack , stressing that ISIS is a significant global threat at a news conference Saturday.
• Belarus claims it thwarted suspects: Belarusian special services helped Russia prevent the "terrorists" who allegedly carried out the deadly attack from escaping across the border Friday night, the country's ambassador in Moscow said.
• Estimated damage total: The total estimated damage to the Moscow region's Crocus City Hall after Friday's terror attack is between 9.5-11.4 billion rubles, or approximately $103-124 million, according to a shopping union vice president, as reported by Russian state media RIA Novosti.

Zelensky accuses Putin of trying to blame concert hall attack on Ukraine

From CNN's Maria Kostenko

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said "miserable" Russian President Vladimir Putin waited overnight before publicly addressing Russians, only to accuse Ukraine of having a hand in the terror attack at a concert hall near Moscow.

On Saturday, Putin told the Russian people that the perpetrators of the Crocus City Hall attack had “tried to hide and moved towards Ukraine, where, according to preliminary data, a window was prepared for them on the Ukrainian side to cross the border.”

Zelensky and several Ukrainian officials have vehemently denied Ukraine has any kind of involvement in the attack.

In his nightly address, Zelensky also said that Russians "have come to Ukraine, burn our cities – and try to blame Ukraine."

Zelensky added that if the Russian people do "not ask any questions to their security and intelligence agencies, then Putin will try to turn such a situation to his personal advantage again."

More background: The terror group ISIS claimed responsibility for Russia's attack, according to a short statement published by ISIS-affiliated news agency Amaq on Telegram Friday. ISIS has not provided evidence to support the claim.

Earlier this week, Putin had dismissed warnings by the US embassy that there could be terrorist attacks on large groups, telling the Federal Security Service (FSB) that the embassy warnings were "provocative" and "outright blackmail."

White House "strongly condemns" Moscow region terror attack

From CNN’s Samantha Waldenberg

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement Saturday that the United States “strongly condemns” the terrorist attack at a concert venue complex near Moscow that left at least 133 people dead.

She added that ISIS, which has claimed responsibility for the attack without providing evidence, is a “common terrorist enemy that must be defeated everywhere.”

“We extend our deepest condolences to those who lost loved ones and to those who were injured or affected by these unconscionable attacks against innocent civilians," Jean-Pierre said in a statement issued by the White House. "ISIS is a common terrorist enemy that must be defeated everywhere."

4 suspects in Friday's attack are being questioned by Russian investigators, state media reports

Four suspects in Friday's terrorist attack on Crocus City Hall were detained in the Bryansk region and taken to Moscow, where they are now in the custody of Russia's Investigative Committee, Russian state media TASS reported Saturday.

The suspects were brought in two prisoner transport vehicles, which are still in the courtyard of the committee, a TASS correspondent reported. This indicates that the suspects are being interrogated and the investigation is ongoing, according to TASS.

In the coming days, investigators are expected to file a court motion asking for imprisonment as the chosen preventative measure. All four suspects face life imprisonment, TASS reports.

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How do I get from Moscow airports to the city center?

Moscow with its more than twelve million inhabitants has three international airports. The best known is Sheremetyevo (international abbreviation SVO), which is 35 km northwest of Red Square. Russia’s largest airline Aeroflot has its hub here. The second largest airport, Domodedovo (international abbreviation DME), is about 45 km south-east of the center, from where the S7 airline, which mainly flies within Russia, and numerous international airlines such as Lufthansa take off and land. Finally, there is the third largest airport called Moscow-Wnukovo (abbreviation VKO), which serves numerous low-cost airlines such as Pobeda and is the closest to Moscow city center at just under 30 km.

Aeroexpress to the city center

First the good news – all three airports are easy to reach, both by taxi and by public transport such as train and bus. All three airports are connected to the Moscow city center by means of the so-called Aeroexpress. The Aeroexpress is certainly the most popular and the easiest way for foreigners to get to the center of Moscow. With the striking red signs Aeroexpress, you can find the way to the express trains both at Moscow’s three major airports and at the respective departure stations.

The modern, wifi-equipped trains from the private provider have little in common with the city railway trains from the Russian capital, which still originate from the Soviet era, and run to all three airports from early morning until after midnight. The schedule varies from airport to airport and time of day. As a rule of thumb, trains go to Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo every half an hour during the day to and from the airport, while Wnukowo is only served hourly for much of the day.

The same pricing scheme applies to all three airports: at 300 rubles (around $ 4.50) for a one-way trip, the prices for the trip are significantly more expensive than regular public transport tickets in Moscow, but are still affordable. Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo are each around 35 minutes from the center, and Domodedovo Airport is 45 minutes away.

If you buy the ticket in advance or via the app, there is a 50 ruble discount, further discounts are available if you book a return trip with one ticket, which costs 600 rubles (around $ 8.50). When it comes to value for money, the Aeroexpress trains are certainly the best option as a solo traveler. Especially since bypassing the often treacherous Moscow traffic – in the rush hour a drive by car can take an hour longer than previously estimated.

The biggest disadvantage is that you can of course not go directly to the desired destination within Moscow. However, all three Aeroexpress trains take you to one of the major Moscow train stations, which in turn are connected to the ring line of the Moscow Metro, from where you can quickly reach all corners of the center of Moscow.

Transport connections

• Sheremetyevo Airport -> Belorussky Vokzal (journey time 35 minutes)
• Domodedovo -> Paveletsky Vokzal (journey time 45 minutes)
• Wnukowo -> Kiewsky Vokzal (travel time 35 minutes)

Prices (apply to all three airports in the city and to the airport):

• One-way ticket at the counter = 300 rubles
• Online ticket = 300 rubles
• Round trip = 600 rubles
• Tickets for 10 trips = 2,300 rubles
• Ticket Business Class = 800 rubles

Link : timetables of the Aeroexpress trains to the city center

Link : timetables of the Aeroexpress trains to the airports

In the city or to the airport by taxi app

Alternatively, the transport from and to the airport can also be regulated using the taxi app. Yandex-Taxi and Gett are the two most popular providers in Moscow. At Yandex the flat rate to all three international airports currently costs 1100 rubles ($ 16) and at Gett even only 950 rubles ($ 14) in the cheapest variant, with a small car of the size VW Polo or Ford Focus.

Unless you want to go to the airport with too much luggage or with more than two people, this is certainly the easiest method. Moderate surcharges are required for larger vehicle categories. Without knowledge of Russian, however, it would be much easier to get to the airport by taxi app than from the airport to the city. Due to the confusing location in front of the three major airports, it may be necessary to contact the driver by phone to find the right vehicle. Because the GPS signal of the respective app only gives the location with an accuracy of about ten to fifteen meters – with several lanes running side by side in front of the terminal and dozens of waiting passengers and arriving taxis, it is certainly not always easy to find yourself straight away.

If you are still dependent on the WiFi of the airport building and therefore must not move too far from the entrance, the whole thing could prove to be difficult. From the city to the airport, however, the taxi app without knowledge of Russian proves to be the much easier method. The hotel or AirBnB address can be entered as the pick-up location, and a taxi can usually be ordered within a few minutes.

Moscow trip planned? Here you can find out how to get the necessary visa! !

With the classic taxi into the city

If you want to drive into the city by regular taxi, you have to expect considerable additional costs. The website of Domodedovo airport gives 2,000 rubles as a guide for a trip to the center, i.e. just $ 28. Trips to and from Vnukovo and Sheremetyevo should be a little cheaper. As with the taxi apps, the following also applies here: Especially at rush hour, you should probably prefer the train because Moscow’s streets burst at the seams in the after-hours traffic.

Bus metro combination

For experienced travelers to Russia or visitors with a particularly tight budget, there is still the option of all three airports to get to the nearest metro station by bus or Marshrutka (mini-bus with a fixed route but flexible stops).

From Vnukowo, for example, the 45M minibus line goes to the Yugo-Zapadnaya metro station on the red line № 1 of the Moscow Metro, for just 150 rubles. Together with the 62 rubles ticket for the metro, you can get into the city for just over $ 3.

Sheremetyevo Airport can be reached from the Rechnoy Vokzal metro station on Marshrutka line 949 for 80 rubles, or from Planernaya metro station with Marshrutka 948 for 80 rubles ($ 1.1). The minibuses run approximately every 15 minutes. Domodedovo Airport is connected by express bus to the metro station of the same name every half hour. The fare here is 150 rubles (a good 2,1 $). However, complications must be expected with this transport route – the bus drivers in Moscow usually only speak Russian. Taking the metro or minibuses with luggage is not always comfortable. However, you can save money, especially as a solo traveler.

Alexander Popov

Welcome to Russia! My name is Alexander, I was born in Moscow and I'm a passionate tour guide. I want to share my passion for Russia and my hometown with you. On my website you will find useful information to make your individual trip to Russia as interesting as possible.

The best taxi services in Moscow

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