Image of Uranus recorded by Voyager 2 on January 25, 1986. Credit: NASA/JPL.

St. Louis Astronomical Society Meeting - The Voyager Spacecraft Golden 'Greatest Hits' Record

An illustrated presentation by Jon Lomberg, Astronomical Artist

The Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft provided spectacular views as they flew by Jupiter and Saturn in 1979 and 1980-1981. Voyager 2 traveled on to encounter Uranus and Neptune in 1986 and 1989. Mounted on each spacecraft was a gold-coated copper record containing pictures, music, and greetings from many cultures, languages, and traditions. Both Voyagers are traveling fast enough to escape our solar system. Their golden records are intended to represent Earth to alien civilizations, should a Voyager be found, possibly thousands of years from now. Jon Lomberg will talk about the Golden Records and his experiences with their design, content selection, and production. 

Artist Jon Lomberg was the Design Director for NASA’s Voyager spacecraft Golden Record project. He was also the Chief Artist for Carl Sagan’s original COSMOS series and designer of the animated opening of the film CONTACT. Winner of the Emmy and numerous other awards, he has an asteroid officially named after him.  He lives in Hawaii, where he designed the Galaxy Garden, the world's first large scale explorable model of the Milky Way Galaxy.

The St. Louis Astronomical Society is an organization for individuals interested in astronomy and telescopes. The public is invited to attend its meetings, telescope observing sessions, and special events. For more information about Astronomical Society events, please visit www.slasonline.org or call 314- 962-9231.  The event, cosponsored by NASA's Missouri Space Grant Consortium at Washington University, is open to the public free of charge.

To get the link to the Zoom meeting if you are a non-member of SLAS, simply send a request to:  

 

CONTACTUS@SLASONLINE.ORG