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![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/bZKescs.jpg?1) To Infinity and Beyond!
UPDATE
Voyager 1, one of the twin probes sent in 1977 whose mission is to explore the edge of the Solar System and beyond. It was confirmed to have entered heliosphere in 2003, and have reached the end of the heliosphere, or the region where sun's gravity still has influence over the surrounding bodies, by 2012 and is now in the heliopause, the boundary between solar system and outerstellar space. Scientists thought that the heliopause would be unexciting, as the solar wind, which carries solar magnetic field, and any particle from the sun is either pushed back or pushed aside and around by those from outerstellar space, having less and less influence on the galactic cosmic rays coming from outside the heliosphere.
Recent data from the Voyager 1 however characterize this outer regions like nothing the scientists have predicted. While it is true that the solar wind has greatly reduced, cosmic rays are not coming in from all direction, as the mathematical formula predicted, but are streaming in from one particular direction. At the same time, the reduced solar wind does not affect the magnetic field remains the same.
It is a disturbing, strange, and interesting phenomenon at the same time. Space is awesome!
THE GOLDEN RECORD
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/XkdxPhS.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/xLBvQTL.jpg)
The contents of the record were selected for NASA by a committee chaired by Carl Sagan of Cornell University. Sagan and his associates assembled 116 images and a variety of natural sounds, such as those made by surf, wind, thunder and animals (including the songs of birds and whales). To this they added musical selections from different cultures and eras, spoken greetings in fifty-six languages (55 ancient and modern languages, plus Esperanto), and printed messages from President Jimmy Carter and U.N. Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim.
The collection of images includes many photographs and diagrams both in black and white and color. The first images are of scientific interest, showing mathematical and physical quantities, the solar system and its planets, DNA, and human anatomy and reproduction. Care was taken to include not only pictures of humanity, but also some of animals, insects, plants and landscapes. Images of humanity depict a broad range of cultures. These images show food, architecture, and humans in portraits as well as going about their day to day lives. Many pictures are annotated with one or more indications of scales of time, size, or mass. Some images contain indications of chemical composition. All measures used on the pictures are defined in the first few images using physical references that are likely to be consistent anywhere in the universe. The musical selection is also varied, featuring artists such as Beethoven, Guan Pinghu, Mozart, Stravinsky, Blind Willie Johnson, Chuck Berry and Kesarbai Kerkar.
The pulsar map and hydrogen molecule diagram are shared in common with the Pioneer plaque. The 116 images are encoded in analogue form and composed of 512 vertical lines. The remainder of the record is audio, designed to be played at 16⅔ revolutions per minute.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Z3DJRJo.jpg?1)
MISSION SUMMARY
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/3FSe8t0.jpg?1)
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Oh man I always get nerdchills© when thinking and reading about that little piece of technology...
The discovery about cosmic rays seems quite important, although I don't fully grasp what they are. I just love it when our expectations are brought down. We know so little after all...
Edit : just to make it clear, if anyone is up for explaining a little bit more about cosmic rays and the possible consequences of that discovery, it would be greatly appreciated !
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United Kingdom3482 Posts
I think one of the coolest things about the voyager probes is that they are still functioning. Its exceptionally hard to keep computers running at such a low temperature especially for 36 years.
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Space really scares me... :/
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On June 28 2013 23:41 Cynry wrote:
Oh man I always get nerdchills© when thinking and reading about that little piece of technology...
The discovery about cosmic rays seems quite important, although I don't fully grasp what they are. I just love it when our expectations are brought down. We know so little after all...
Edit : just to make it clear, if anyone is up for explaining a little bit more about cosmic rays and the possible consequences of that discovery, it would be greatly appreciated !
Cosmic rays are radiation from a source not within our solar system. They range from harmless background radiation, to planet-killing gamma ray bursts.
On June 28 2013 23:53 imallinson wrote:
I think one of the coolest things about the voyager probes is that they are still functioning. Its exceptionally hard to keep computers running at such a low temperature especially for 36 years.
Doesn't the Radioisotopic Thermal Generator keep it somewhat warm, compared to the rest of space that is?
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On June 29 2013 10:26 Millitron wrote:Show nested quote +On June 28 2013 23:41 Cynry wrote:
Oh man I always get nerdchills© when thinking and reading about that little piece of technology...
The discovery about cosmic rays seems quite important, although I don't fully grasp what they are. I just love it when our expectations are brought down. We know so little after all...
Edit : just to make it clear, if anyone is up for explaining a little bit more about cosmic rays and the possible consequences of that discovery, it would be greatly appreciated ! Cosmic rays are radiation from a source not within our solar system. They range from harmless background radiation, to planet-killing gamma ray bursts.
planet-killing
can it be like bacteria-killing first? :/ planet killing seems to harsh
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So basically if hostile aliens find Voyager, they will have all the information they need to find us and destory us
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On June 29 2013 10:29 Orangered wrote:Show nested quote +On June 29 2013 10:26 Millitron wrote:On June 28 2013 23:41 Cynry wrote:
Oh man I always get nerdchills© when thinking and reading about that little piece of technology...
The discovery about cosmic rays seems quite important, although I don't fully grasp what they are. I just love it when our expectations are brought down. We know so little after all...
Edit : just to make it clear, if anyone is up for explaining a little bit more about cosmic rays and the possible consequences of that discovery, it would be greatly appreciated ! Cosmic rays are radiation from a source not within our solar system. They range from harmless background radiation, to planet-killing gamma ray bursts. can it be like bacteria-killing first? :/ planet killing seems to harsh
That's kinda what I meant. A nearby GRB hitting Earth dead-on would likely exterminate all life on the planet. I suppose there's bacteria underground, or beneath the ice in Antarctica that might survive, but not much else.
Anything on the side of the planet that got hit would be killed practically instantly by radiation poisoning, and anything on the other side would die shortly after, as the GRB will ruin the atmosphere. I forget exactly what happens, I think it may convert the nitrogen on that side to nitric acid. Basically the air becomes toxic.
Remember though, there aren't many stars big enough nearby to create GRB's when they go supernova, and GRB's are like a laser, not a flash-bulb. They only shine in a narrow beam in one direction, so actually getting hit is unlikely.
Last, GRB's weaken with distance. If I remember correctly, an average GRB would only be dangerous within 1000 lightyears or so, which isn't much on interstellar scales.
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On June 29 2013 10:29 TheFish7 wrote:
So basically if hostile aliens find Voyager, they will have all the information they need to find us and destory us
There's no grounding to assume the aliens would be hostile. It's not like there's ever been a time in history where a more advanced civilization explored new lands, made contact with the natives of that new land, and then eliminated the native inhabitants through military means.
On second thought, I really hope no aliens find the gold plate.
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I loled at "The Sounds of Earth" in the disc... what are the chances that the aliens have actually evolved a language similar to English right?
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On June 29 2013 10:37 Le Cheque Zo wrote:
I loled at "The Sounds of Earth" in the disc... what are the chances that the aliens have actually evolved a language similar to English right?
I don't think the intent behind "the sounds of earth" is to directly communicate with aliens using the English language.
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On June 28 2013 23:53 imallinson wrote:
I think one of the coolest things about the voyager probes is that they are still functioning. Its exceptionally hard to keep computers running at such a low temperature especially for 36 years.
actually, space travelling objects mostly have problems with cooling. Space isnt actually cold.
Assuming some aliens would find this and they would know the concept of war and for some reason want to conquer a planet really far away...they would need to send an army that would be able to fly between solar systems for thounands if not millions of years. And theyn they would also need to make sure that the people in that army would not actually forget the mission or change their culture in a way that they wont fullfill the mission.
And then they face a mankind that has either destructed itself or is a few million years ahead of copper records.
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Show nested quote +On June 28 2013 23:53 imallinson wrote:
I think one of the coolest things about the voyager probes is that they are still functioning. Its exceptionally hard to keep computers running at such a low temperature especially for 36 years. Doesn't the Radioisotopic Thermal Generator keep it somewhat warm, compared to the rest of space that is?
Yes, in fact that's one of the purposes of the RTG.
So basically if hostile aliens find Voyager, they will have all the information they need to find us and destory us
Not necesarily, that's only true if the aliens are hostile and intelligent enough to decipher the disk's message and care enough to travel through space just to kill us. Beyond unlikely.
actually, space travelling objects mostly have problems with cooling. Space isnt actually cold.
It is cold when the object is not facing the sun; when it is, it's searing hot. That's why space travel is so tricky because the temperatures are constantly switching from extremes (like how the astronauts both have to cool their suits in the light of the sun and heat their suits in the shadow of the Earth when working on the ISS).
In fact, to further show my point, on Mercury, the side that faces the Sun has an average temperature of 427C and the side that is not facing the Sun (in the dark) is at a freezing -183C.
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On June 29 2013 10:51 sorrowptoss wrote:Show nested quote +On June 28 2013 23:53 imallinson wrote:
I think one of the coolest things about the voyager probes is that they are still functioning. Its exceptionally hard to keep computers running at such a low temperature especially for 36 years. Doesn't the Radioisotopic Thermal Generator keep it somewhat warm, compared to the rest of space that is? Yes, in fact that's one of the purposes of the RTG. Show nested quote +So basically if hostile aliens find Voyager, they will have all the information they need to find us and destory us Not necesarily, that's only true if the aliens are hostile and intelligent enough to decipher the disk's message and care enough to travel through space just to kill us. Beyond unlikely. Show nested quote +actually, space travelling objects mostly have problems with cooling. Space isnt actually cold. It is cold when the object is not facing the sun; when it is, it's searing hot. That's why space travel is so tricky because the temperatures are constantly switching from extremes (like how the astronauts both have to cool their suits in the light of the sun and heat their suits in the shadow of the Earth when working on the ISS).
I for one the aliens are more intelligent. I wouldn't even mind them finding and attacking us, seriously. That would only be one more additional knowledge for us and our lonely human existence.
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well, technically thats not space thats cold, thats just lack of anything stopping indrared photons. But ok i give you that point, the probe will get cold that far away from the sun.
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actually, space travelling objects mostly have problems with cooling. Space isnt actually cold.
This. The main problem with space is the lack of conduction. Because space is a vacuum, there are hardly any molecules to dump the heat, so space travelers will often have problems with overheating. This is why I laugh at "stealth" space ships since any object is going to shine bright through infrared.
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On June 29 2013 10:57 LaNague wrote:
well, technically thats not space thats cold, thats just lack of anything stopping indrared photons. But ok i give you that point, the probe will get cold that far away from the sun.
OH I see what you mean by infrared photons. Good point  (I think Lolimaiko said the same thing).
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On June 29 2013 10:59 Lolimaiko wrote:Show nested quote +actually, space travelling objects mostly have problems with cooling. Space isnt actually cold. This. The main problem with space is the lack of conduction. Because space is a vacuum, there are hardly any molecules to dump the heat, so space travelers will often have problems with overheating. This is why I laugh at "stealth" space ships since any object is going to shine bright through infrared.
who are planning to make stealth space ships? havent heard of this
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It gives me chills thinking about how truly alone these probes are. During every second of every day these things are floating out there in the literal middle of nowhere. Furthest humanity has ever stretched its influence, and possibly ever will. Though I'd like to think that hundreds, if not thousands of years from now how cool it would be if a human ship found one of these things. Cool thing to imagine.
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On June 29 2013 11:10 On_Slaught wrote:
It gives me chills thinking about how truly alone these probes are. During every second of every day these things are floating out there in the literal middle of nowhere. Furthest humanity has ever stretched its influence, and possibly ever will. Though I'd like to think that hundreds, if not thousands of years from now how cool it would be if a human ship found one of these things. Cool thing to imagine.
goof thing these probes are not sentient, or else they would have died from psychosomatic illnesses due to depression or would have just committed suicide.
another thing, why is it in non-metric? 12 inches and 12 feet??!!! Seriously NASA, you are a science institution for god's sake!
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EPT
