Voyager Golden Record (left) and the case it's contained in (right)
In 1977, NASA launched a pair of telescopes called the Voyager Space Telescopes. They were designed to travel to the edges of our solar system and beyond, and send back as much information as possible along the way. Since astronomers knew that these telescopes would be leaving the solar system, they wanted to have something on board signifying the telescopes origins, just in case they were picked up by an alien species some day! So onboard these telescopes are two gold plated records called the Voyager Golden Records. The records contain greetings from Earth in many languages, images of various places, and different iconic sounds. Directions on how to build and use a record player are etched on the case that holds to records. The star like symbol shows some of the nearest and brightest stars to Earth. This was placed there to help any alien species pinpoint Earth's location in space. The Voyager Spacecrafts are just now leaving the solar system and have a long way to go before they reach another planetary system. If you'd like to see some of their content, check out this website: http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/voyager-to-stars/
