All Entries in the "Sagan News" Category
"Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" released on DVD last week
If you’re wondering why you never heard of a spinoff of Cosmos based on Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan’s book of the same name, it’s because the film in question — a 1964 Soviet film by Sergei Parajanov — was instead the source for the name of the Sagan/Druyan book! (Also, the film is not a documentary as one might expect, but fiction.) This seems to be the first North American region DVD release. Some links to stuff about the film:
- IMDB entry
- Amazon.com page
- New York Times DVD review
- Village Voice film review
- Time Out New York film review
- The L Magazine film review
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Announcing the second annual Carl Sagan memorial blog-a-thon
Later this month, on December 20, 2007, we will reach the eleventh anniversary of Carl Sagan’s passing — and the first anniversary of the wildly successful first-ever Carl Sagan Memorial Blog-a-Thon. Far exceeding my wildest expectations, this became a truly worldwide celebration, with more than 250 posts in 11 languages. And for those who like nice round anniversary numbers, this year also saw quite a number of significant Sagan-related ones: the tenth anniversary of the release of the film Contact and the Planet Walk in Ithaca, NY; and the thirtieth anniversary of the launch of the two Voyager spacecraft. I am launching a new blog-a-thon exactly a year after the first one; for full details, see the main announcement post on my personal blog. See you on the 20th!
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The Mix Tape of the Gods.
Joel passed along an excellent Op-ed from today’s New York Times about the 30th Anniversary of the Voyager program, and what the Gold Records mean.
Excerpt, from “The Mix Tape of the Gods,” by Timothy Ferris, dated September 5th, 2007, The New York Times.
Forty thousand years will elapse before Voyager 1, departing the realm of the Sun at a speed of 38,000 miles per hour, passes anywhere near another star. (It will drift within 1.7 light years of a dim bulb called AC+79 3888.) And 358,000 years will elapse before Voyager 2 approaches the bright star Sirius.
Out there, our concepts of velocity become provincial. The stars are moving, too, in gigantic orbits around the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Voyager, a toy boat on this dark sea, will not so much approach Sirius as watch it sail by, bobbing in its mighty wake.
Contemplation of Voyager’s billion-year future among the stars may make us feel small and the span of our history seem insignificant. Yet the very existence of the two spacecraft and the gold records they carry suggests that there is something in the human spirit able to confront vast sweeps of space and time that we can only dimly comprehend.
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30 Years, Billions of Miles
The Voyager program turned 30 yesterday. To celebrate this greatest of human accomplishments, Celebrating Sagan has compiled this brief list of articles discussing the splendor and glory of Voyagers I and II.
- NASA: Voyager at 30: Looking Beyond and Within
- Space.com: Voyager Spacecraft Celebrate 30th Anniversary
- UFO.Whipnet: NASA’s Golden Gift to the Aliens: 30 Years Later
- WikiPedia: Voyager program
Also, please listen to the Sounds of Sagan audio player to hear some of the actual recordings on the Golden Record.
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Beyond Belief
Before my long holiday train ride, I took the time to download the recent Beyond Belief sessions to watch during the trip. (One of the few bonuses of riding Amtrak is outlets.) This is hardy stuff that would’ve made Carl Sagan proud – the meat and potatoes of existence. If you haven’t already, you simply must check it out. I recommend session 2.
If you’re unfamiliar with the project, here’s their website‘s description:
Just 40 years after a famous TIME magazine cover asked “Is God Dead?” the answer appears to be a resounding “No!” According to a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life in a recent issue of Foreign Policy magazine, “God is Winning”. Religions are increasingly a geopolitical force to be reckoned with. Fundamentalist movements – some violent in the extreme – are growing. Science and religion are at odds in the classrooms and courtrooms. And a return to religious values is widely touted as an antidote to the alleged decline in public morality. After two centuries, could this be twilight for the Enlightenment project and the beginning of a new age of unreason? Will faith and dogma trump rational inquiry, or will it be possible to reconcile religious and scientific worldviews? Can evolutionary biology, anthropology and neuroscience help us to better understand how we construct beliefs, and experience empathy, fear and awe? Can science help us create a new rational narrative as poetic and powerful as those that have traditionally sustained societies? Can we treat religion as a natural phenomenon? Can we be good without God? And if not God, then what?
This is a critical moment in the human situation, and The Science Network in association with the Crick-Jacobs Center brought together an extraordinary group of scientists and philosophers to explore answers to these questions. The conversation took place at the Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA from November 5-7, 2006.
Ann Druyan gave a particularly moving presentation. Here it is in three parts:
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Honoring Carl.
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Carl Sagan Died Today.
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Another Sagan Patent.
In addition to the post by Bryan H. on a patent issued to Carl Sagan, A. Bar-nun and S. Bauer on March 18, 1972, I found this one:
Production of Amino Acids from Gaseous Mixtures Using Ultraviolet Light.
Christopher Niebylski, The World Bank.
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Sagan’s Wisdom…
Sagan’s Wisdom is Needed Now, More than Ever.
Hi
I met Dr. Sagan and Ann personally in Paris during the shooting of Cosmos. I live in France, where I am a Planetary Society volunteer coordinator, and I keep contact with Ann.
My favorite books are Demon-Haunted World and Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors. I beleive that both hold answers to all of today’s ills.
ad astra
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Sagan Memorial Station.
After landing on Mars on July 4, 1997, the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft underwent a name change. Responsible for bringing the robot rover, Sojourner, to the red planet, the now stationary Pathfinder would heretofore be called the Sagan Memorial Station. Serving as a hub for the one-foot-tall rover, Sagan Memorial Station can be seen in this photograph from Mars.
Check out this image for a glimpse of the little Sojourner at work.
Thanks to NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day.
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