# Decoding the Voyager Golden Record

## Research question

How could a finder play the record, and what picture of Earth did its makers choose to send?

## A physical message

Each Voyager carries a 12-inch gold-plated copper record. Its sounds and images were chosen to represent life and culture on Earth. [NASA overview](https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voyager/voyager-golden-record-overview/)

## Instructions without a shared language

The cover shows the stylus position and an outside-in playback direction. Binary markings specify a 3.6-second rotation using a hydrogen transition as a time reference. [NASA: the cover](https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voyager/golden-record-cover/)

## What we chose to send

The selection includes 115 images, natural sounds, music, and greetings in 55 languages. This was a curated message, not a complete inventory of humanity. [NASA: Instructions for Aliens](https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/instructions-for-aliens/)

## Question to investigate next

How much knowledge would a finder need to reconstruct the images from the diagrams?