The Voyager Golden Record Explained

The Voyager Golden Records are two identical phonograph records aboard spacecraft launched in 1977. They are copper disks plated with nickel and gold.

Sagan and associates assembled 116 images. One image was used for calibration.

Greetings in 55 languages were recorded. Chuck Berry was included after Sagan noted there are many adolescents on the planet.

The Beatles song Here Comes the Sun was wanted but EMI asked for $50,000 per record. Permission was denied.

The record cover is aluminum. It holds an ultra-pure sample of uranium-238.

Uranium-238 lets aliens determine the record's age.

Voyager 1 passed Pluto's orbit in 1990 and left the Solar System in 2004.

Voyager 1 will pass near star Gliese 445 in about 40,000 years.