All Entries Tagged With: "picture"

If you want to make an apple pie from scratch…

To celebrate Dr. Sagan’s birthday, Joe and Julie from St. Louis made an apple pie, from scratch.

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Celebrating Sagan | Nov 11, 2009 | Comments View Comments

Spacecraft to Be Launched Today

from the New York Times, August 20, 1977

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Aug. 19–The Voyager spacecraft scheduled for launching tomorrow to scout Jupiter, Saturn, and possibly Uranus will be carrying a message from Earth on the off chance that extraterrestrial beings will come upon the craft centuries from now, somewhere on its endless journey beyond the solar system.

The message is in the form of a recoding, called “Sounds of Earth.” It is a 12 inch copper phonograph record inserted in an aluminum protective jacket that is attached to the outside of the 1,820 pound spacecraft.

Dr. Carl Sagan, the Cornell University astronomer who conceived the idea, calls the recorded message a “bottle cast into the cosmic ocean.”

Languages and Nature

Inscribed on the record are nearly two hours of greetings in dozens of human languages, samples of music of various cultures and times, natural sounds such as the wind and surf and animals and birds, and a message from President Carter.

All preparations were reported to be running smoothly for the launching at 10:25 A.M. tomorrow at the Kennedy Space Center here. The spacecraft, called Voyager 2 even though it is to be the first of the two craft to be launched in the Voyager program, is to be blasted into its interplanetary course by a Titan 3E Centaur rocket.

George F. Page, the director of the mission launching operations at the space center, said today that “everything is proceeding right on time” and that the forecast was good launching weather.

Voyager2, equipped with television cameras and scientific instruments, is to fly by Jupiter in 1979, Saturn in 1981 and, if all continues to go well, Uranus in 1986. An identical spacecraft, Voyager 1, scheduled for launching Sept. 1, is to explore Jupiter and Saturn. The missions call for the most far-ranging reconnaissance of the outer solar system thus far.

‘A Very Big Step’

At a news conference today, Dr. Edward C. Stone, the project scientist from the California Institute of Technology, described the Voyager missions as “a very big step in extending our ability to observe our surroundings and the solar system.”

The $400 million project has been five years in preparation, directed for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of Pasadena, Calif. The idea of attaching a phonograph message to the space vehicle was an afterthought.

The messages on the record were designed to enable possible extraterrestrial civilizations that might intercept the spacecraft millions of years hence to put together some picture of 20th century Earth and its inhabitants. The record runs about two hours.

The record contains, in scientific language, information on how it is to be played, using the cartridge and needle provided. The first eight minutes consist of a wavy, electronic hum, which is the transmission of 115 photographs and diagrams in electronic form depicting the mathematics, chemistry, geology and biology of the Earth and a description of the solar system.

The President’s Message

One of the messages, in electronic form, is a letter from President Carter. It reads, in part:

“We cast this message into the cosmos. It is likely to survive a billion years into our future, when our civilization is profoundly altered and the surface of the Earth may be vastly changed. Of the 200 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy, some–perhaps many–may have inhabited planets and space-faring civilizations. If one such civilization intercepts Voyager and can understand these recorded contents, here is our message:

“This is a present from a small distant world, a token of our sounds, our science, our images, our music, our thoughts, and our feelings. We are attempting to survive our time so we may live into yours. We hope someday, having solved the problems we face, to join a community of galactic civilizations. This record represents our hope and our determination, and our good will in a vast and awesome universe.”

The musical selections represent many cultures and many times, including Eastern and Western classical music, ethnic music, and jazz and rock-and-roll. There is Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, “Johnny B. Goode” by Chuck Berry, A Navajo Night Chant, Peruvian Woman’s Wedding Song and Australian Horn and Totem Song.

“Because space is very empty, there is essential no chance that Voyager will enter the planetary system of another star,” Dr. Sagan said. “The spacecraft will be encountered and the record played only if there are advanced space-faring civilizations in interstellar space.

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admin | Aug 20, 2009 | Comments View Comments

Sagan and the Dalai Lama, a Retrospective.

Thanks again go to Larry Klaes for bringing this to our attention.

Religion and science do not have to be at odds. Science, said Ann Druyan, widow of Cornell astronomer Carl Sagan, can communicate with, learn from and even benefit from religion and vice versa.

Druyan, a writer and media producer who collaborated with Sagan for 19 years until his death in 1996, reflected on dialogues in the early 1990s between Sagan and the Dalai Lama at a Sept. 28 lecture in Anabel Taylor Auditorium. For the first time, film excerpts of the meeting between the two were shown in a public venue.

Sagan, Cornell professor and author of “Cosmos,” “Contact” and “Dragons of Eden,” among other books, was perhaps best known for his extraordinary ability to communicate science to the public. “He wanted to share with everyone the wonder and awe that science inspired in him,” Druyan said.

She stressed that there were political motivations behind Sagan’s work as well: “Carl believed that you can’t have a democratic society if you have a tiny scientific elite and a public who is uncomfortable with the methods and language of science,” she said.

Click here to read the whole article from Cornell University’s Chronicle Online.

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admin | Oct 04, 2007 | Comments View Comments

Café de Sagan

While strolling along The Philosopher’s Path (left) from Ginkaku-ji in northeast Kyoto this summer, my fiancé and I passed this little coffee shop, Café de Sagan. Of course we were drawn to the name, but it’s location on a beautiful stone path that borders a canal known as the Walk of Philosophy made its appearance serendipitous indeed. We stopped in for tea and coffee. Inside ambient music reminiscent of the Cosmos soundtrack drifted toward the front from speakers in back, no kidding. We asked the woman serving us about the name, and with her limited English and my fiancé’s limited Japanese we gathered that the two characters (seen below) are pronounced say-gun, roughly translating as “We hope you come again.” A chance discovery with some karmic undertones. A lovely spot. And good, strong coffee. Been meaning to share.

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admin | Sep 20, 2007 | Comments View Comments

Planetary Imagery: 30 Years From Voyager Spacecraft

Wired has a gallery of Voyager photos up today that includes some Sagan material. There are some truly wonderful shots that I had never seen before.

Here’s two that include mention of Dr. Sagan:

SOUNDS OF EARTH

Voyager project manager John Casani displays the “Sounds of Earth” recording shortly before launch in 1977. The 12-inch gold-plated copper phonograph record was intended to serve as a time capsule that could communicate the story of Earth to extraterrestrials.

A NASA committee, chaired by renowned physicist Carl Sagan, assembled 115 images and a variety of natural sounds made by surf, wind, thunder, birds, whales and other animals. They also embedded musical selections from different cultures and eras, and spoken greetings in 55 languages. Encased in protective aluminum jackets, each record had its own cartridge and a needle. Instructions written in symbols explained the origin of the spacecraft and indicate how the record was to be played

CARL SAGAN, INTO THE COSMOS

Famed astronomer Carl Sagan served as a spokesman for the Voyager spacecraft. Here, Sagan discusses the Voyager 2 in the Jet Propulsion Labs in Pasadena, California on January 18th, 1986.

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admin | Sep 05, 2007 | Comments View Comments

My son, Sagan. Part Two.

A friend sent me a link to your site. I saw the photo of SmW’s son, Sagan, posted on Feb 14. Our son is named Sagan too!

When camping last year we met another family with a 5 year old named Sagan.

I wonder how many of us are out there? There must be thousands! I am attaching a picture of our Sagan. What a legacy! I hope Carl Sagan would have been proud.

Heather, and son Sagan, born 01/05/03.

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Celebrating Sagan | Mar 03, 2007 | Comments View Comments

My son, Sagan

Heres our contribution to “Celebrating Sagan”… my son Sagan. My husband and I can’t wait to watch Cosmos with our kids and explain to them who this great man was. I get lots of comments on the name and he gives me an opportunity to explain to others the meaning behind it.

- SmW

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Celebrating Sagan | Feb 14, 2007 | Comments View Comments

Cosmic Calendar

In response to the Cosmic Clock post, Larry Klaes wrote to remind of us of Carl’s Cosmic Calendar:

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Celebrating Sagan | Dec 29, 2006 | Comments View Comments

Nick’s Memories

Nick Sagan wrote an outstanding post yesterday – if you haven’t read it, you ought to. From Carl’s dictaphone habits to his distate for Beavis & Butthead and the movie Aliens, Nick lets us in on a little secret; his father was, it’s true, a human being.

Sagan was so clearly a hero to countless people across the globe, and for those of us who can’t help but do a bit of worshiping, Nick’s portrait helps ground that awe without diminishing our hero’s stature. Here’s a choice picture and excerpt:

He had a knack for pinball, knowing just how hard to bump a machine without tilting it. We’d go to arcades together and he’d win bonus games like mad. Videogames were never his thing, though he could appreciate the better ones. I remember the day I showed him Computer Baseball, a strategy game for the Apple IIe. You could pit some of the greatest teams in MLB history against each other. We played Babe Ruth’s 1927 Yankees against Jackie Robinson’s 1955 Dodgers for about an hour, and then he turned to me and said, “Never show this to me again. I like it too much, and I don’t want to lose time. Link.

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admin | Dec 21, 2006 | Comments View Comments

My Meager Contribution.

i’m the offspring of scientists – my mother, an astronomer; my father, an electrical engineer for NASA. it was only natural that we eagerly gathered around the TV to watch the latest installment of cosmos.

carl sagan was a fond influence on my geekery. while i’m a graphic designer currently, i will always be obsessed with this vast universe, thanks to my parents and carl sagan. and now, i make a point to pass this obsession along to my son:

thanks for the blog, and thanks for bringing back memories.

sincerely,

batty

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admin | Dec 20, 2006 | Comments View Comments