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Sun Voyager Travel Guide

The Sun Voyager (Sólfarið) is a large steel sculpture of a ship, located on the road Sæbraut, by the seaside of central Reykjavík. The work is one of the most visited sights in the capital, where people gather daily to gaze at the sun reflecting in the stainless steel of this remarkable monument.

Spot this iconic location on a tour of the city of Reykjavik .

The sculpture serves as an ode to the sun where it gracefully faces north across Faxaflói Bay . A popular misconception is that the Sun Voyager represents a Viking Ship. However, that is not quite the case. According to the sculptor’s vision, the piece rather accounts for a vessel of dreams. In his own words, the artist says that the sculpture represents, "the promise of undiscovered territory, a dream of hope, progress and freedom."

The sculptor is Jón Gunnar Árnason, who described his vision as one of the possible origins of the Icelandic people. When Jón visited the island of Bockholm in Finland, he claimed to have experienced an uncanny feeling that he’d been there before, many centuries ago.

The story goes that as ancient explorers from the centre of the known world set out to the four different cardinal directions, some set out towards the rising sun and made port at Mongolia. There, they settled down, until discovering the scribes of the explorers from the original journey who had ventured out west.

With the discovery of another fatherland, the people yet again set sail, but this time they headed back towards the setting sun. After having followed the sun for years, they eventually ended up on an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

When Jón was looking out to sea from Bockholm, he envisioned a vessel of dreams that would take him the rest of the way home; to the newfound promise land of the setting sun. He carved his vision into a granite rock by the sea, and thus the sun ship was born in his mind.

As the city of Reykjavík celebrated its 200-year anniversary in 1986, the town council of Vesturbær held a competition for works of exterior art. The Sun Voyager was deemed as the winner, and an aluminium prototype was donated to the city of Reykjavík.

In August 1990, the final piece was revealed at its current location by Sæbraut. Sadly, this was shortly after the death of Jón, who never got to see his masterpiece unveiled.

The site of the sculpture was considerably disputed. Many have pointed out the fallacy in the ship’s mast facing north, as opposed to west; to adhere to the original concept behind the artist’s vision.

Jón originally wanted the ship to be situated in the western part of Reykjavík, or by the coastline of Ánanaust. Eventually, and with the artist’s consent, the small headland on Sæbraut got chosen. Although the headland has no name, the artist comically referred to it as Jónsnes—or Jón’s Peninsula.

The Sun Voyager is often deemed the capital’s most famous artwork, but the city is full of sculptures, architectural masterpieces and street art, some sanctioned and some not, all of which is worth admiring.

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Sun Voyager

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Sun Voyager

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• What to see

Sólfar, or Sun Voyager

Sólfar, or Sun Voyager , is a steel sculpture on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. Discover why it's one of the most photographed monuments in Reykjavik .

Reykjavik's most famous sculpture, the Sun Voyager , was designed in the mid-1980s to commemorate the bicentenary of the city's constitution.  Its architect, Jón Gunnar Árnason, designed a simple yet elegant steel sculpture reminiscent of a Viking ship , honouring Iceland's history and seafaring tradition. The sculptor also wanted every person who came to Reykjavik  to see this metal ship and imagine where they could travel with it.

Where is the Sun Voyager?

Today, the  Sólfar statue is located to the north of the Icelandic capital on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. However, the artist's original location was very different: on a hilltop to the west of the city near Lake Tjörnin , representing the journey that the sun makes every day from east to west.

It was moved to its current location to be closer to make the most of the seafront landscapes. It has become one of the most photographed places in Reykjavik , both for the structure itself and for the views behind it: on clear days you can even see the Snaefellnes Peninsula .

Rekagrandi 14, Reykjavik .

Bus : lines 1, 3, 6, 11 and 12.

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Sun Voyager

Website: https://sunvoyager.is/

Email: [email protected]

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Sun voyager, reykjavik, iceland. open daily 24 hours.

Accessibility:

Please see https://guidetoiceland.is/travel-info/iceland-in-a-wheelchair-adventures-accessible-to-everyone   and  https://visitreykjavik.is/city/access-disabled  and  http://spintheglobe.net/dir/2016/09/13/wheelchair-accessible-reykjavik-iceland/

and https://www.thekkingarmidstod.is/english/ about Sjálfsbjörg (The National Association of People with Disabilities in Iceland) which has the stated goal of “working to create [a society in which] the disabled enjoy full participation and equality” and regularly conducts surveys on museums, pools, and other public places, making recommendations for country-wide improvements.  

Brief description:

Sun Voyager is a sculpture by Jón Gunnar Árnason, opened in 1990 and situated next to the Sæbraut road in Reykjavík.

Skúlagata 11, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland

See email addresses for Visit Reykjavík: (at City Hall, Tjarnargata 11, 101 Reykjavík) at   https://visitreykjavik.is/about-us

+354 411 6000 ( Visit Reykjavík: City Hall, Tjarnargata 11, 101 Reykjavík)

https://sunvoyager.is/

https://visitreykjavik.is/solfar-sun-voyager

Directions:

On north side of Highway 41, overlooking Faxaflói Bay. 

Opening Times:

Open daily 24 hours

Please see  https://www.icetra.is/   and  https://visitreykjavik.is/city/public-transportation  on Public transportation (called Strætó in Icelandic). Reykjavík has an excellent bus system with regular services to and from all the city’s major towns and attractions. For information, access to their convenient destination planner and free travel app,  visit  strætó.is.  For a map of services please see  http://www.publictransport.is/

If you choose to explore Reykjavík by bus you might also want to consider investing in the  Reykjavík City Card . The card gives you 24, 48 or 72 hours unlimited travel on the city busses as well as admission to major attractions and discounts at shops and restaurants.

There are many amenities in Reykjavík. 

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*Distances are calculated in a straight line from the current venue, please allow extra time/distance based on available paths or roads.

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• Sólfarið - The Sun Voyager
• Travel Guide
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An iconic sculpture by the sea

Sólfarið, or The Sun Voyager, is an iconic statue along the seaside of Reykjavík unveiled to mark the 200th birthday of the city of Reykjavík on August 18, 1990. Designed by artist Jón Gunnar, the statue is built of stainless steel and is the artist’s interpretation of a dreamboat and ode to the sun. Jón’s intention was to give the city something that inspired dreams and imagination and symbolizes light and hope. It is not, as some think, a Viking ship. 

The statue, located along Sæbraut, as part of Reykjavík’s sculpture walking path. Sólfarið measures 18 metres in length and is on a circular stone platform jutting into the sea that the artists called “Jónsnes” (Jón’s Peninsula).

Sólfarið (The Sun Voyager) in Reykjavík

Sólfarið (The sun Voyager) in Reykjavík

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Travel Guide for Sun Voyager in April (Updated 2024)

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The Sun Voyager (Solfar)

Sculpture by Jón Gunnar Árnason

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Museums, Churches & other objects

• Sun Voyager
• How to get there
• General information
• Meaning behind
• Attractions nearby
• Where to stay

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Recognized as one of the most significant landmarks in Reykjavik, the Sun Voyager sculpture was created by Icelandic sculptor Jón Gunnar Árnason. In 1990, the statue stood out to mark the capital’s 200th anniversary.

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Where is the sun voyager located.

The statue is situated near Reykjavik’s city center, a couple of minutes to the East by foot from the famous Harpa Concert Hall.

Full address: Sæbraut, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland.

How to get to the Sun Voyager?

It takes less than an hour to reach the Sun Voyager sculpture if you go straight from the Keflavík International Airport by car as the distance between these two places is just 51 kilometers. If you’re curious to know how long it would take you to reach it from the city center – it’s a 40-minute walk or an 8-minute car ride.

General information about the Sun Voyager:

• Size : 9 m × 7 m × 18 m
• Material : Stainless steel/granite foundation
• The concept of the Sun Voyager was first presented in 1986
• The statue was unveiled to the public in 1990

History of the Sun Voyager

The story of this remarkable piece of art started back in 1986 when Icelanders were celebrating the 200-year anniversary of the capital. This is when it was decided to have an art contest to encourage artists to create something beautiful to later decorate the city. The winner of this competition was Jón Gunnar Árnason. His created prototype from aluminum was gifted to the city. In 1990, a year after the artist’s death, the sculpture was displayed as we find it today. And even though the creator hadn’t seen the finished masterpiece, he gave the green light to place it in the agreed location. The headland at Sæbraut is where the Sun Voyager stands.

Meaning behind the Sun Voyager

Art is supposed to encourage people to think and bring their interpretations to the table. At least, this is what happened with Árnason’s sculpture. For many, the Sun Voyager reminded them of a Viking ship. But the idea represented through the statue was that it’s a boat of dreams, a symbol of sun, light, and hope.

Attractions nearby the Sun Voyager

The famous Sun Voyager isn’t the only attraction worth visiting in the area. Here are a few more places you shouldn’t miss:

• Partnership sculpture – The harpoon-shaped sculpture by Pétur Bjarnason was created to honor the 50-year relationship between Iceland and the USA. 
• Harpa Concert Hall – is not only Reykjavik’s concert hall and conference center but also a breathtaking architectural piece that opened in 2011.
• Höfði House – a building that marks the end of the Cold War. This is where, in 1986, met U.S. President Ronald Reagan and the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev. The occasion is also known as the Reykjavik Summit. 
• Reykjavik City Hall – an intricate building that stores Iceland’s 3D map on its ground floor. 
• Hallgrímskirkja – The largest church in Iceland, 74.5 meters tall, it’s also known as one of the distinct buildings in Iceland due to its side wings.
• Perlan – “The Pearl” museum is situated on top of Öskjuhlíð Hill and lures people to come closer due to its interesting shape and glass dome.

Where to stay near the Sun Voyager

Take your time exploring the area near the Sun Voyager. For your adventure to be smoother and more comfortable, here are some places to stay near the attraction:

• Canopy by Hilton Reykjavik
• Reykjavík Residence Hotel
• Skuggi Hotel by Keahotels
• Sand Hotel by Keahotels
• Center Hotels Laugavegur
• Kex Hostel Reykjavik 
• Loft Hostel
• Galaxy Pod Hostel

Guesthouses

• Aurora Guesthouse 
• Grettir Guesthouse
• Downtown Guesthouse Reykjavik

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Tips and Tricks for Photographing The Sun Voyager in Reykjavik

• Equipment You'll Need to Photograph the Sun Voyager

Best Camera Settings for Photographing the Sun Voyager

How to compose a photo of the sun voyager, the best times to photograph the sun voyager, beneath the northern lights.

• Photographing the Sun Voyager When You'd Least Expect

Where is the Sun Voyager?

You may have seen photos of the Sun Voyager in Reykjavík, or even heard about it in conversation from people who have visited Iceland. Known in Icelandic as 'Sólfarið', the Sun Voyager is one of the most memorable and photogenic of all the sculptures in the Reykjavík area.

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This beautiful artwork by the seafront in Reykjavík gleams on the best and worst of days. It may be viewed from the car as you drive by, or marvelled at in person when you visit on foot. Sculpted by the famed artist Jón Gunnar Árnason (1931-1989) as an ode to the sun, this gorgeous outdoor piece of art was actually designed to commemorate Reykjavík's 200 year anniversary. Sadly, Jón Gunnar passed away a year before the Sun Voyager was placed in its current position by the seafront in Reykjavík.

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Perhaps what makes the Sun Voyager stand out the most is that it is shaped like the bulk or hull of a ship. Although often mistaken for a Viking's ship, it is nothing of the sort. Rather, this 'dream boat' is formed of stainless steel as a symbol of hope, progress and freedom.

As the Sun Voyager points toward the sea, it seems to hint of seeking the unknown – a voyage of anticipation, hope, excitement and promise – yet mysterious and dreamlike in nature. Its shape resembles the bare essence of a ship set against the background of the harbour with Mount Esja in the distance, leaving the rest up to the imagination. The sculpture has a simple, elegant and classic quality to it, coming across as somewhat ethereal in its beauty.

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The form of the Sun Voyager may indeed make it seem as if it were floating on air. In the end, it may well be its very openness to the experience and interpretation of the individual observer that lends the sculpture its greatest effect.

True to its name, the sun does wonders for those seeking to photograph the Sun Voyager, as the steel body of this sculpture reflects the rays in quite wonderful and weird ways. Even the base of the sculpture offers a reflection of the vessel, making for an intriguing and photogenic element in its own right.

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Equipment You'll Need to Photograph the Sun Voyager

A reliable camera

Wide angle lens

Graduated neutral density filters

Neutral density filters

Memory card

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While filters are not imperative to your shots, graduated neutral density filters can help you to balance out the exposure between the sky and the Sun Voyager itself. You can also use neutral density filters to create a longer exposure , thereby blurring the water in the background for a dreamy effect... or even just to blur out the motion of anyone who may accidentally get into your shot! By using a very long exposure time, such as a few minutes, you can bet that your photo of the Sun Voyager will turn out as though you were alone and nobody else was there while you were taking it!

As it often gets very windy down by the seafront, it's important to have a tripod to help you minimise camera shake while you photograph the Sun Voyager. You can also handhold your camera though it can make things a little bit more difficult. If handholding, be sure to switch on the image stabiliser function of your lens or camera, to help to minimise shake for sharper images.

• See also:    A Fundamental Guide to Sharp Focus in Handheld Landscape Photography

To ensure that your shots will have the entire Sun Voyager sharp and in focus, set your aperture to somewhere between f/11 to f/16.

Your shutter speed will depend largely upon the effect that you are trying to achieve. To freeze-frame the moment, try shooting at 1/125. For long exposure effects, you can even have your shutter open for a few minutes. Try experimenting with graduated neutral density filters, as well as neutral density filters of different stops, in order to maximise your creative potential.

If you'll be using a tripod when photographing the Sun Voyager, then adjust your ISO to the lowest that it will go – usually 50 or 100 for most cameras. This will help to minimise noise in your images. However, if you'll be handholding, you'll need to increase your ISO to somewhere between 400-800. If you'll be handholding your camera while it is particularly dark, then you might even need to increase the ISO even further.

• See also:    8 Tips to Improve Your Landscape Photographs

There are many different ways that you can compose a photograph of the Sun Voyager, though the most popular is from the front, looking out to sea. Although not very big, the sculpture is staggeringly beautiful with the water and vast skies behind, as well as the mountains on the horizon in the distance.

Try experimenting with your camera at different heights and angles while using a wide-angle lens , in order to emphasise the size or components of the sculpture itself.

• See also:    10 Tips to Master Wide Angle Landscape Photography

The Sun Voyager is a modern symbol of Reykjavik, which has been featured on many postcards. As such, you can expect this iconic landmark to be busy all year round.

As the Sun Voyager makes for a lovely location and a great photo opportunity, it can get quite busy with photographers and other visitors during the day. It has become one of the most popular attractions in Reykjavik and is also a very well-known selfie spot. The trick to capturing the perfect photo of it, with hardly anybody around, is to get to the Sun Voyager at the right time.

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During winter in Iceland , the Sun Voyager is particularly beautiful during twilight. When the first snowfalls cover this sculpture, it makes for an enchanting wintery scene.

Keep in mind that there will always be fewer visitors just before sunrise than the sunset, so the best time to shoot it is just before dawn or during dusk.

In the crux of winter in Iceland, the sun will rise rather late in the morning, around 10:30am. As such, aim to get there an hour before sunrise, so that you'll have time to figure out your composition and to witness the transition of the colours and the light in the sky.

Also during winter, the ring of mountains along the horizon behind the Sun Voyager will be made clearer with distinct lines of snow and ice. This adds a wonderful touch and variety to the mix, especially when sculpture itself is clad in ice and snow.

Be careful when visiting the Sun Voyager in winter though, as the steps down towards the sculpture can be very icy.

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As you can expect, the Sun Voyager looks simply stunning beneath the mystical light of the Aurora Borealis . It's a great location for Northern Lights photography within the city, particularly if you don't have a car or if you're staying in a hotel somewhere nearby. The only thing is that the surrounding night lights of Reykjavík can lead to light pollution, making for very yellowish-shots. To remedy this, set your white balance manually to a cooler temperature, or fix your white balance later on during post-processing.

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For your best chances at seeing the Northern Lights over the Sun Voyager, it's best to visit Iceland during autumn , spring or winter. This is because the skies will be dark enough to show the activity of the Northern Lights, though you'll still need to keep an eye out for any cloud cover over the city.

There is no use trying to photograph the Northern Lights over the Sun Voyager in Iceland during summer , as there won't be any darkness in the sky, meaning that the Aurora Borealis will not be visible.

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Perhaps the best time to photograph the Sun Voyager is during the summertime in Iceland. Facing the majestic Mt. Esja, the Sun Voyager is in a wonderful spot for photo opportunities, whether you are enjoying a midday stroll or taking in the full significance of the artwork’s name beneath the golden light of the Midnight Sun .

Yes, you heard us right. There are times in Iceland when the Sun Voyager will be lit by golden light.

During a couple of weeks surrounding the summer equinox in June, the sun will never set in Iceland. Rather, it will come close to the horizon before seemingly bouncing back into the sky. The result is a drawn-out number of golden hours , often around midnight... hence why it is called the Midnight Sun.

• See also:   Why Iceland is the Perfect Place for Midnight Sun Photography

With endless hours of daylight, you can be sure that most people will be in bed by the time that the magical golden hour of the Midnight Sun takes hold, meaning that you'll most likely have the Sun Voyager all to yourself.

If you prefer to shoot in darker, more atmospheric conditions during summer, then it's best to visit the Sun Voyager from mid-May to the end of July, when the sun gets low enough on the horizon for the sculpture to be basked in twilight during the morning and evening hours. During these times, the mountains Esja, Skardsheidi and Akrafjall in the distance, as well as the rolling waves of the sea, further complement the view of the sculpture itself. On very clear days, you may even see as far as the beautiful Snaefellsnes peninsula, with its legendary Snaefellsjokull glacier glistening on the faraway peaks. 

• See also:    2-Day Snaefellsnes Peninsula in Summer Photography Tour

Photographing the Sun Voyager When You'd Least Expect

The weather in Iceland changes everyday by the hour (sometimes even by the minute!), so it's worthwhile revisiting the Sun Voyager a couple of times during your trip, even if you've already photographed it once. It can look completely different beneath the varying conditions.

In fact, for more unique photographs of the Sun Voyager, try shooting it during the rain, or even when it's windy! You can bet that there will be fewer people around as you put your own dramatic, creative and artistic take on this already fascinating sculpture.

• See also:    How to Take Great Photos in Bad Weather

The Sun Voyager is a little isolated from the other sights in Reykjavik but it's an easy walk from the city centre. If anything, it makes for a good reason to stroll along the shoreline and take in the views.

Once you're down by the water, the Sun Voyager can be easily found along the seafront, just a few minutes walking distance east of the Harpa Concert Hall, by Sæbraut road.

Access is free to the public.

About the author:   Serena Dzenis   is a landscape photographer based in Iceland. You can find more of her work on her  website  or by following her on  Facebook  and  Instagram .

Would you like to improve your photography skills in the beautiful surrounds of Iceland?  Check out our range of photography tours and workshops which are designed to take your photography skills to a whole new level.

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The Sun Voyager is just down the road from the Harpa Concert Hall along the northern coastline of the city next to the central Reykjavík area. Created by Icelandic artist Jón Gunnar Árnason and described by himself as a dreamboat, or an ode to the sun. His inspiration was from a dream where found himself traveling with a group of ancient people all the way from Mongolia to Iceland always following the sunset towards west across forests, lakes and rivers, eventually reaching the sea and there constructing great ships that would take them to an undiscovered island in the north. This fantasy or dream of hope, progress and freedom, and an ode to the sun, has captured people´s imagination and the sculpture itself not unlike a viking ship stands proudly in a prime location of the reykjavik area not far from Höfði House. A fun fact is that even if the dream/story of The Sun Voyager is complete fantasy and fiction then a recent genealogical discovery has shown that The Icelandic Horse has its closest relative in the Mongolian Horse and there is no explanation for this yet.

This incidentally is also the part of Reykjavík where people go when there is a good forecast for northern lights since there is a great view towards north across Faxi bay with the city lights to your back. Plus in this area you are pretty close to most of the downtown hotels, the National Museum and most of the great restaurants in the center displaying the exciting the new fusion of Icelandic cuisine. There are also a couple of great swimming pools in the area thanks to the hot springs, offering a safe and cozy geothermal experience complete with steam baths and hot tubs. 

For those coming to Iceland for the various music festivals the area around The Sun Voyager should be familiar since for example Harpa Concert Hall is the center of both Iceland Airwaves and Sonar music festivals. Since the late 80´s Reykjavik has been the center of a thriving music scene producing great artists and also becoming a destination for music lovers and international recording artists. The Sugarcubes, Björk, Emiliana Torrini, Sigur Rós, Kaleo and Of Monsters and Men, to name a few of the locals. 

The downtown area is also the place to head out from to any kind of day tours. The Reykjavik Harbour is where the whale watching tours leave from, as well as bird watching tours and sea-angling for those interested. Also tours going out to The Blue Lagoon, as well as the South Shore and The Golden Circle to name some. 

The Sun Voyager should absolutely be a stop on any city tour exploring Reykjavík, the northernmost capital in the World.

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Sun Voyager, Reykjavik Overview

The Sun Voyager is considered one of the most remarkable sculptures located by the sea. The sculpture is composed entirely of steel and is reflective. Its shape resembles a boat or Viking ship, which was the sculptor's intention. Since it is right by the sea, it is scenic to look at and photograph.

Beyond the Sun Voyager, you can see Mount Esja across the water. Overall, it is an aesthetically pleasing place to visit. Jón Gunnar Árnason sculpted it in 1990, while the idea sprouted through a competition in 1986. He explained that the structure represented the presence of hope, freedom, and progress. He said it to be a sun ship that symbolized an undiscovered place. The structure is carved into granite and has a stainless steel finish. It looks more stunning when it reflects the bright colours of the sunset.

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NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft finally phones home after 5 months of no contact

On Saturday, April 5, Voyager 1 finally "phoned home" and updated its NASA operating team about its health.

NASA's interstellar explorer Voyager 1 is finally communicating with ground control in an understandable way again. On Saturday (April 20), Voyager 1 updated ground control about its health status for the first time in 5 months. While the Voyager 1 spacecraft still isn't sending valid science data back to Earth, it is now returning usable information about the health and operating status of its onboard engineering systems. 

Thirty-five years after its launch in 1977, Voyager 1 became the first human-made object to leave the solar system and enter interstellar space . It was followed out of our cosmic quarters by its space-faring sibling, Voyager 2 , six years later in 2018. Voyager 2, thankfully, is still operational and communicating well with Earth. 

The two spacecraft remain the only human-made objects exploring space beyond the influence of the sun. However, on Nov. 14, 2023, after 11 years of exploring interstellar space and while sitting a staggering 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) from Earth, Voyager 1's binary code — computer language composed of 0s and 1s that it uses to communicate with its flight team at NASA — stopped making sense.

Related: We finally know why NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft stopped communicating — scientists are working on a fix

In March, NASA's Voyager 1 operating team sent a digital "poke" to the spacecraft, prompting its flight data subsystem (FDS) to send a full memory readout back home.

This memory dump revealed to scientists and engineers that the "glitch" is the result of a corrupted code contained on a single chip representing around 3% of the FDS memory. The loss of this code rendered Voyager 1's science and engineering data unusable.

The NASA team can't physically repair or replace this chip, of course, but what they can do is remotely place the affected code elsewhere in the FDS memory. Though no single section of the memory is large enough to hold this code entirely, the team can slice it into sections and store these chunks separately. To do this, they will also have to adjust the relevant storage sections to ensure the addition of this corrupted code won't cause those areas to stop operating individually, or working together as a whole. In addition to this, NASA staff will also have to ensure any references to the corrupted code's location are updated.

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On April 18, 2024, the team began sending the code to its new location in the FDS memory. This was a painstaking process, as a radio signal takes 22.5 hours to traverse the distance between Earth and Voyager 1, and it then takes another 22.5 hours to get a signal back from the craft. 

By Saturday (April 20), however, the team confirmed their modification had worked. For the first time in five months, the scientists were able to communicate with Voyager 1 and check its health. Over the next few weeks, the team will work on adjusting the rest of the FDS software and aim to recover the regions of the system that are responsible for packaging and returning vital science data from beyond the limits of the solar system.

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

Robert Lea is a science journalist in the U.K. whose articles have been published in Physics World, New Scientist, Astronomy Magazine, All About Space, Newsweek and ZME Science. He also writes about science communication for Elsevier and the European Journal of Physics. Rob holds a bachelor of science degree in physics and astronomy from the U.K.’s Open University. Follow him on Twitter @sciencef1rst.

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• Robb62 'V'ger must contact the creator. Reply
• Holy HannaH! Couldn't help but think that "repair" sounded extremely similar to the mechanics of DNA and the evolution of life. Reply
• Torbjorn Larsson *Applause* indeed, thanks to the Voyager teams for the hard work! Reply
• SpaceSpinner I notice that the article says that it has been in space for 35 years. Either I have gone back in time 10 years, or their AI is off by 10 years. V-*ger has been captured! Reply

Admin said: On Saturday, April 5, Voyager 1 finally "phoned home" and updated its NASA operating team about its health. The interstellar explorer is back in touch after five months of sending back nonsense data. NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft finally phones home after 5 months of no contact : Read more

evw said: I'm incredibly grateful for the persistence and dedication of the Voyagers' teams and for the amazing accomplishments that have kept these two spacecrafts operational so many years beyond their expected lifetimes. V-1 was launched when I was 25 years young; I was nearly delirious with joy. Exploring the physical universe captivated my attention while I was in elementary school and has kept me mesmerized since. I'm very emotional writing this note, thinking about what amounts to a miracle of technology and longevity in my eyes. BRAVO!!! THANK YOU EVERYONE PAST & PRESENT!!!

• EBairead I presume it's Fortran. Well done all. Reply

SpaceSpinner said: I notice that the article says that it has been in space for 35 years. Either I have gone back in time 10 years, or their AI is off by 10 years. V-*ger has been captured!

EBairead said: I presume it's Fortran. Well done all.

• View All 11 Comments

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National News | Voyager 1 sending data to Earth for 1st time in…

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National news | voyager 1 sending data to earth for 1st time in 5 months, “today was a great day for voyager 1. we’re back in communication with the spacecraft.".

By Ashley Strickland | CNN

For the first time in five months, NASA engineers have received decipherable data from Voyager 1 after crafting a creative solution to fix a communication problem aboard humanity’s most distant spacecraft in the cosmos.

Voyager 1 is currently about 15 billion miles away, and at 46 years old, the probe has shown multiple quirks and signs of aging in recent years.

The latest issue experienced by Voyager 1 first cropped up in November 2023, when the flight data system’s telemetry modulation unit began sending an indecipherable repeating pattern of code .

Voyager 1’s flight data system collects information from the spacecraft’s science instruments and bundles it with engineering data that reflects its current health status. Mission control on Earth receives that data in binary code, or a series of ones and zeroes.

But since November, Voyager 1’s flight data system had been stuck in a loop. While the probe has continued to relay a steady radio signal to its mission control team on Earth over the past few months, the signal did not carry any usable data.

The mission team received the first coherent data about the health and status of Voyager 1’s engineering systems on April 20. While the team is still reviewing the information, everything they’ve seen so far suggests Voyager 1 is healthy and operating properly.

“Today was a great day for Voyager 1,” said Linda Spilker, Voyager project scientist at JPL, in a statement Saturday. “We’re back in communication with the spacecraft. And we look forward to getting science data back.”

The breakthrough came as the result of a clever bit of trial and error and the unraveling of a mystery that led the team to a single chip.

Troubleshooting from billions of miles away

After discovering the issue, the mission team attempted sending commands to restart the spacecraft’s computer system and learn more about the underlying cause of the problem.

The team sent a command called a “poke” to Voyager 1 on March 1 to get the flight data system to run different software sequences in the hopes of finding out what was causing the glitch.

On March 3, the team noticed that activity from one part of the flight data system stood out from the rest of the garbled data. While the signal wasn’t in the format the Voyager team is used to seeing when the flight data system is functioning as expected, an engineer with NASA’s Deep Space Network was able to decode it.

The Deep Space Network is a system of radio antennae on Earth that help the agency communicate with the Voyager probes and other spacecraft exploring our solar system.

The decoded signal included a readout of the entire flight data system’s memory.

By investigating the readout, the team determined the cause of the issue: 3% of the flight data system’s memory is corrupted . A single chip responsible for storing part of the system’s memory, including some of the computer’s software code, isn’t working properly. While the cause of the chip’s failure is unknown, it could be worn out or may have been hit by an energetic particle from space, the team said.

The loss of the code on the chip caused Voyager 1’s science and engineering data to be unusable.

Since there was no way to repair the chip, the team opted to store the affected code from the chip elsewhere in the system’s memory. While they couldn’t pinpoint a location large enough to hold all of the code, they were able to divide the code into sections and store it in different spots within the flight data system.

“To make this plan work, they also needed to adjust those code sections to ensure, for example, that they all still function as a whole,” according to an update from NASA . “Any references to the location of that code in other parts of the (flight data system) memory needed to be updated as well.”

After determining the code necessary for packaging Voyager 1’s engineering data, engineers sent a radio signal to the probe commanding the code to a new location in the system’s memory on April 18.

Given Voyager 1’s immense distance from Earth, it takes a radio signal about 22.5 hours to reach the probe, and another 22.5 hours for a response signal from the spacecraft to reach Earth.

On April 20, the team received Voyager 1’s response indicating that the clever code modification had worked, and they could finally receive readable engineering data from the probe once more.

Exploring interstellar space

Within the coming weeks, the team will continue to relocate other affected parts of the system’s software, including those responsible for returning the valuable science data Voyager 1 is collecting.

Initially designed to last five years, the Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2, launched in 1977 and are the longest operating spacecraft in history. Their exceptionally long life spans mean that both spacecraft have provided additional insights about our solar system and beyond after achieving their preliminary goals of flying by Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune decades ago.

The probes are currently venturing through uncharted cosmic territory along the outer reaches of the solar system. Both are in interstellar space and are the only spacecraft ever to operate beyond the heliosphere, the sun’s bubble of magnetic fields and particles that extends well beyond the orbit of Pluto.

Voyager 2, which is operating normally, has traveled more than 12.6 billion miles (20.3 billion kilometers) from our planet.

Over time, both spacecraft have encountered unexpected issues and dropouts, including a seven-month period in 2020 when Voyager 2 couldn’t communicate with Earth. In August 2023, the mission team used a long-shot “shout” technique to restore communications with Voyager 2 after a command inadvertently oriented the spacecraft’s antenna in the wrong direction.

The team estimates it’s a few weeks away from receiving science data from Voyager 1 and looks forward to seeing what that data contains.

“We never know for sure what’s going to happen with the Voyagers, but it constantly amazes me when they just keep going,” said Voyager Project Manager Suzanne Dodd, in a statement. “We’ve had many anomalies, and they are getting harder. But we’ve been fortunate so far to recover from them. And the mission keeps going. And younger engineers are coming onto the Voyager team and contributing their knowledge to keep the mission going.”

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After months of silence, Voyager 1 has returned NASA’s calls

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For the last five months, it seemed very possible that a 46-year-old conversation had finally reached its end.

Since its launch from Kennedy Space Center on Sept. 5, 1977, NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft has diligently sent regular updates to Earth on the health of its systems and data collected from its onboard instruments.

But in November, the craft went quiet.

Voyager 1 is now some 15 billion miles away from Earth. Somewhere in the cold interstellar space between our sun and the closest stars, its flight data system stopped communicating with the part of the probe that allows it to send signals back to Earth. Engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge could tell that Voyager 1 was getting its messages, but nothing was coming back.

“We’re to the point where the hardware is starting to age,” said Linda Spilker, the project scientist for the Voyager mission. “It’s like working on an antique car, from 15 billion miles away.”

Week after week, engineers sent troubleshooting commands to the spacecraft, each time patiently waiting the 45 hours it takes to get a response here on Earth — 22.5 hours traveling at the speed of light to reach the probe, and 22.5 hours back.

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By March, the team had figured out that a memory chip that stored some of the flight data system’s software code had failed, turning the craft’s outgoing communications into gibberish.

A long-distance repair wasn’t possible. There wasn’t enough space anywhere in the system to shift the code in its entirety. So after manually reviewing the code line by line, engineers broke it up and tucked the pieces into the available slots of memory.

They sent a command to Voyager on Thursday. In the early morning hours Saturday, the team gathered around a conference table at JPL: laptops open, coffee and boxes of doughnuts in reach.

At 6:41 a.m., data from the craft showed up on their screens. The fix had worked .

“We went from very quiet and just waiting patiently to cheers and high-fives and big smiles and sighs of relief,” Spilker said. “I’m very happy to once again have a meaningful conversation with Voyager 1.”

Voyager 1 is one of two identical space probes. Voyager 2, launched two weeks before Voyager 1, is now about 13 billion miles from Earth, the two crafts’ trajectories having diverged somewhere around Saturn. (Voyager 2 continued its weekly communications uninterrupted during Voyager 1’s outage.)

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They are the farthest-flung human-made objects in the universe, having traveled farther from their home planet than anything else this species has built. The task of keeping communications going grows harder with each passing day. Every 24 hours, Voyager 1 travels 912,000 miles farther away from us. As that distance grows, the signal becomes slower and weaker.

When the probe visited Jupiter in 1979, it was sending back data at a rate of 115.2 kilobits per second, Spilker said. Today, 45 years and more than 14 billion miles later, data come back at a rate of 40 bits per second.

The team is cautiously optimistic that the probes will stay in contact for three more years, long enough to celebrate the mission’s 50th anniversary in 2027, Spilker said. They could conceivably last until the 2030s.

The conversation can’t last forever. Microscopic bits of silica keep clogging up the thrusters that keep the probes’ antennas pointed toward Earth, which could end communications. The power is running low. Eventually, the day will come when both Voyagers stop transmitting data to Earth, and the first part of their mission ends.

But on the day each craft goes quiet, they begin a new era, one that could potentially last far longer. Each probe is equipped with a metallic album cover containing a Golden Record , a gold-plated copper disk inscribed with sounds and images meant to describe the species that built the Voyagers and the planet they came from.

Erosion in space is negligible; the images could be readable for another billion years or more. Should any other intelligent life form encounter one of the Voyager probes and have a means of retrieving the data from the record, they will at the very least have a chance to figure out who sent them — even if our species is by that time long gone.

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Keeping in touch with NASA’s two aging Voyager spacecraft is getting harder to do as they get farther away and their power sources dwindle.

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Corinne Purtill is a science and medicine reporter for the Los Angeles Times. Her writing on science and human behavior has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, Time Magazine, the BBC, Quartz and elsewhere. Before joining The Times, she worked as the senior London correspondent for GlobalPost (now PRI) and as a reporter and assignment editor at the Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh. She is a native of Southern California and a graduate of Stanford University.

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Education | Pikesville High athletic director used AI to…

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Education | Pikesville High athletic director used AI to fake racist recording of principal, police say

Baltimore County Police arrested a high school athletic director Thursday morning in connection with an AI-made audio clip of Pikesville High School’s principal having a fake, racist conversation.

Dazhon Darien, 31, is charged with disrupting school activities after police say he created the falsified audio recording of Eric Eiswert in January. The audio clip using Eiswert’s voice went viral and was swiftly condemned by the Baltimore County community. The school was inundated with outraged calls and needed an increased police presence and additional counselors.

Darien is also charged with theft, retaliating against a witness and stalking. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The recording included offensive statements made about Black teachers, Black students’ test scores and Jewish parents. Eiswert was removed from the school and required a police presence at his house due to online threats. He maintained his innocence through a union spokesperson.

Baltimore County Police wrote in a 17-page charging document that Eiswert initially believed Darien, Pikesville High’s athletic director, created the fake recording because of a grievance over his contract not being renewed. Darien also fired a long-term coach without approval, Eiswert told police.

In the recording, a man’s voice sounds like he’s talking to someone named Kathy, whom many listeners interpreted to be Vice Principal Kathy Albert. She told police she never had the conversation in the clip.

The man’s voice in the recording says he has to “put up” with “ungrateful Black kids who can’t test their way out of a paper bag” and Black teachers who “should have never been hired.” The recording continues with the man saying he’s “sick of the inadequacies of these people” and if he “has to get one more complaint from one more Jew in this community, I’m going to join the other side.”

Three Pikesville High employees — Darien and two physical education teachers who police said were friends with him — received an email from an unfamiliar email address with the MP3 recording around 10 p.m. Jan. 16, about a half hour before the clip went viral on social media.

One of the P.E. teachers was mentioned in the recording as someone who shouldn’t have been hired. She told detectives she was having professional issues with Eiswert and was not renewing her contract to work at Pikesville High. When she received the email with the audio clip, she sent it to a student and emailed it to several media outlets, she told police. The student then “rapidly spread the message around various social media outlets and throughout the school,” police wrote.

Darien denied involvement in the recording or its release in an interview with detectives. He them he was unfamiliar with the email that sent the recording to him. Over two months, detectives subpoenaed documents from Google, AT&T and T-Mobile that led to an internet provider address registered to Darien’s grandmother, police wrote in charging documents.

The recovery cell phone number associated with the Google account was registered to Darien, police wrote. The number has since been disabled. Detectives also consulted an FBI contractor and forensic analyst, who said the recording “contained traces of AI-generated content with human editing after the fact,” such as background noise for realism.

A Baltimore County Public Schools information technology employee searched Darien’s access to the BCPS network and found that he used language tools and accessed OpenAI tools and Microsoft Bing Chat services that are similar to OpenAI three times between December and January 15, a day before the audio clip was released.

A second expert opinion from a forensic analyst said the recording was manipulated with multiple recordings placed together, police wrote.

Cindy Sexton, president of the Teacher’s Association of Baltimore County, which represents athletic directors, said Darien is “not in front of students” as of Thursday and the union is waiting for the criminal investigation to unfold. TABCO and the National Education Association are troubled by AI being manipulated and used against educators, she said.

“As a society, we need to get in front of and get a handle on AI because of, unfortunately, situations like this are going to continue to happen,” Sexton said. “Our students are tech-savvy; lots of people are. It opens up a whole new world of concern for all of us. We all have our voices out there.”

In the wake of the recording, teachers feared that recording devices were planted in the school, which created a rift in trust between teachers and administrators, police wrote.

Eiswert had also initiated a theft investigation of Darien last year, police wrote. Darien allegedly paid his roommate and a junior varsity coach $1,910 to assistant coach the girl’s soccer team, but the roommate never did. An internal BCPS auditor confirmed that an unauthorized payment was made, in addition to a $4,420 unauthorized payment made for the roommate’s boys basketball stipend.

A BCPS spokesperson declined to comment Thursday.

This story will be updated.

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Cava restaurant opens in Wicker Park on Friday, announces future suburban location

Following its launch, the popular mediterranean restaurant is set to open a second area outlet this summer in vernon hills..

Ted Xenohristos, Cava co-founder and chief concept officer, visits the chain’s new location at 1484 N. Milwaukee Ave. on Wednesday.

Zubaer Khan/Sun-Times

Nearly 20 years after opening in Maryland and expanding to more than 300 locations, Cava finally will enter the Midwest market on Friday with its first restaurant in Chicago.

The fast-casual Mediterranean eatery will open its doors in Wicker Park at 1484 N. Milwaukee Ave. Daily hours are 10:45 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Co-founder and chief concept officer Ted Xenohristos and the Cava team visited the restaurant Wednesday, and announced that a second area location would be coming to 890 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Vernon Hills this summer. On Thursday, the Wicker Park restaurant will provide free meals to the public for a sold-out “community day,” and match donations up to $1,000 for Dion’s Chicago Dream , a local nonprofit combating food insecurity.

The seating area inside of Cava features a mural by Chicago artist Alyssa Low.

• Popular Mediterranean restaurant Cava to open in Wicker Park

Xenohristos cited Chicago’s Greek population, customer demand and the performance of Cava’s dips and spreads in Illinois Whole Foods Markets as reasons for setting up shop in the city.

“The Greek community has been hounding me to open,” Xenohristos said. “And then on our social media, it’s one of the most-requested cities that we see. We’ve always been excited to get here.”

Upon entering the 3,100-square-foot location, patrons will immediately notice Chicago artist Alyssa Low’s colorful mural featuring the Chicago flag, Lake Michigan and the Robey Chicago hotel. The 30-seat dining area also features tables with round corners, cushioned booths and soft lighting — hallmarks of Cava’s new restaurant design called “Project Soul.”

The Chicken + RightRice bowl is one of the menu options at Cava.

But the real draw is the food, which includes chef-curated or build-your-own pitas, salads and bowls presented buffet-style. In line, customers can choose from a variety of entrees, dips, toppings and dressings.

A popular choice is the Harissa Avocado bowl, featuring harissa honey chicken and hot harissa vinaigrette. But patrons can also choose meals featuring braised lamb, spicy lamb meatballs, grilled chicken, falafel or veggies.

Cava also offers several juices, including Strawberry Citrus, Cucumber Mint Lime and Blueberry Lavender.

“We’re trying to define what it means to be Mediterranean,” Xenohristos said. “For me, it’s quality of food, and it’s tasty food that’s also healthy for you.”

A pita buffet at Cava allows customers to choose their own fillings.

The offerings are inspired by Xenohristos’ childhood; his father is from a small village in southern Greece, and his mother is from Cyprus.

“I grew up very Greek,” Xenohristos said. “The first time I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich was in college. My mom would make me spanakopita and send me to school with Greek food. I was always kind of embarrassed about it and didn’t really understand it. As I grew older, I really started to have a passion for Greek food and restaurants.”

When Xenohristos and partners Ike Grigoropoulos and Chef Dimitri Moshovitis opened the full-service Cava Mezze restaurant in Maryland in 2006, they bought furniture from Target, took orders on sticky notes and wore shirts with the phonetic pronunciations of the ingredients.

Since then, Mediterranean food has grown much more popular in the United States, Xenohristos said.

“You couldn’t find a hummus brand in a grocery store when we opened the first restaurant,” he added. “Now, there’s millions of different hummus flavors that you see.”

Cava has flourished while meeting the demand, going public in 2023 and boasting an annual revenue of more than $700 million.

Xenohristos said Cava stands out due to its unique flavors and culture of generosity and friendliness.

“We really focused on sharing our cuisine, our culture and all the amazing aspects of the Mediterranean people.”

The restaurant at 1484 N Milwaukee Ave. in Wicker Park will be the first Cava location to open in Chicago.

Richmond Night Market 2024: Here are a few things to know

In advance of opening night on April 26, we gathered five things you should know before you go

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The Richmond Night Market returns this Friday for the 2024 summer season.

Richmond Night Market 2024: Here are a few things to know Back to video

The annual outdoor market features live music, festivities and lots and lots of food. Set at 8351 River Rd., this year’s market runs through Oct. 14.

This year’s festivities will feature more than 110 food vendors serving up 600-plus international eats, along with a host of retail vendors, games and more. In advance of opening night, we gathered five things you should know about the family friendly event before you go.

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When is the night market open what are the hours.

This year’s Night Market will be open Friday and Saturday from 7 p.m. to midnight and Sunday/stat holidays from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. (April 26-May 31 and Sept. 2 to Oct. 14). The festival’s summer hours (June 1 to Sept. 1) will run Friday from 7 p.m. to midnight, Saturdays from 6 p.m. to midnight, and Sundays/stat holidays from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.

How do I get to the night market? Is there parking?

The Richmond Night Market is known to prompt snarled traffic jams in the area around Bridgeport Road, which is why event organizers suggest arriving early to ensure you can see, play and eat your way through the festival with enough time. The SkyTrain is the suggested way to get there (Bridgeport Station on the Canada Line is the closest stop!), but there is also free parking just a few minutes’ walk away.

Is it general admission or is there a pass?

The Richmond Night Market is accessible by general admission. Tickets are $8.50 per person (children under age 7 and seniors over 60 are free). But, event organizers say the best way to visit is with a Zoom Pass. For $40, the pass includes skip-the-line entry. Plus, the pass is transferable, so it can be shared among family and friends. Passes can only be purchased at the gate.

What’s the theme to this year’s Richmond Night Market?

And that theme is Summer Sweet Dragon, which is a nod to the Year of the Dragon. The cute-and-colourful Sweet Dragon will appear throughout the festival site, including new neon light displays.

Go hungry, leave happy!

One of the biggest draws of the Richmond Night Festival is the food. This year’s festival features a wide variety of savoury culinary delights including: Japanese poutine; foot-long superfries; kimchi bacon rolls, flying noodles, chicken lollipops, and the very-viral rainbow grilled cheese sandwiches.

In addition to a full menu of savoury delights, the Richmond Night Market vendors will also be serving up a sweet serving of desserts such as crème brûlée made with chestnut cream, ice cream, coconut milk drinks and more.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kenny Tai (@heyhangryhippo)

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Man Sets Himself on Fire Near Courthouse Where Trump Is on Trial

Onlookers screamed as fire engulfed the man, who had thrown pamphlets in the air before he set himself aflame. He was taken to a hospital and died hours later.

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By Nate Schweber and Matthew Haag

• April 19, 2024

A man set himself on fire on Friday afternoon near the Lower Manhattan courthouse where jurors were being chosen for the criminal trial of former President Donald J. Trump.

The man, who had lingered outside the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse earlier this week, doused himself with accelerant at around 1:35 p.m. in Collect Pond Park, across the street from the building. Onlookers screamed and started to run, and soon, bright orange flames engulfed the man. He threw leaflets espousing anti-government conspiracy theories into the air before setting himself on fire.

People rushed and tried to put out the flames, but the intensity of the heat could be felt from some distance.

After a minute or two, dozens of police officers arrived, running around and climbing over barricades to extinguish the blaze. The man was loaded into an ambulance and rushed to a hospital burn unit. He died on Friday night.

The New York Times

City officials identified the man as Max Azzarello, 37, of St. Augustine, Fla. Mr. Azzarello had appeared outside the courthouse on Thursday, holding a sign displaying the address of a website where the same pamphlets were uploaded. The top post of the website says, “I have set myself on fire outside the Trump Trial.”

Mr. Azzarello walked around Lower Manhattan earlier in the week, holding a sign on Wednesday critical of New York University at Washington Square Park before moving on Thursday to Collect Pond Park.

At the park on Thursday, Mr. Azzarello had held up various signs and at one point shouted toward a group of reporters gathered there, “Biggest scoop of your life or your money back!” One of his signs claimed that Mr. Trump and President Biden were “about to fascist coup us.”

In an interview that day, he said his critical views of the American government were shaped by his research into Peter Thiel, the technology billionaire and political provocateur who is a major campaign donor, and into cryptocurrency.

Mr. Azzarello said he had relocated from Washington Square Park because with the cold weather, he thought more people would be outside the courthouse.

“Trump’s in on it,” Mr. Azzarello said on Thursday. “It’s a secret kleptocracy, and it can only lead to an apocalyptic fascist coup.”

Mr. Azzarello arrived in New York City sometime after April 13, the police said, and his family in St. Augustine did not know about his whereabouts until after the incident. While Mr. Azzarello was recently in Florida, he had connections to the New York City area and worked for Representative Tom Suozzi during his 2013 campaign for Nassau County executive on Long Island.

A man at a Brooklyn address associated with a possible relative of Mr. Azarello’s declined to comment on Thursday.

Over the past year, however, Mr. Azzarello’s behavior appeared to become more erratic. He was arrested three times in 2023 on misdemeanor charges in Florida, and he posted online in August that he had just spent three days in a psychiatric hospital.

Later that month, while dining at the Casa Monica Hotel in St. Augustine, he threw a glass of wine at a framed autograph of former President Bill Clinton. He showed up to the hotel again, two days later on Aug. 21, stripped to his underwear and shouted profanities at guests while blasting music from a speaker.

Three days later, police arrested him for defacing and breaking signs belonging to several businesses. He took a pest control sign from the yard of one business that had warned passers-by to keep children and pets away for their safety. In comments to the police, he said that “the pest control company was there to exterminate children and dogs.”

His mug shot shows Mr. Azzarello sticking his tongue out.

In addition to his website, Mr. Azzarello was also active on social media, promoting anti-government literature on Instagram. Most of his online posts before the spring of 2022 were of his travels and his family, and he noted that his mother died in April 2022 from complications of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

About a year later, he posted a photo of what appeared to be his Covid-19 vaccination card — defaced with the words “Super Ponzi” and the symbol for Bitcoin.

People who witnessed the fire said they were in disbelief as they saw Mr. Azzarello, who was in an area of the park reserved for supporters of Mr. Trump, toss the pamphlets into the air and then flames shoot toward the sky. Mr. Azzarello, who was wearing jeans and dark gray T-shirt, fell to the ground amid the fire.

Some of the pamphlets referred to New York University as a “mob front” and also mentioned former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Al Gore and the lawyer David Boies, who represented Mr. Gore in the 2000 presidential election recount. Another pamphlet contained anti-government conspiracy theories, though they did not point in a discernible political direction.

Most officers who responded to the fire on Thursday ran from the direction of the courthouse, which is a couple of hundred feet across the street; some struggled to immediately reach Mr. Azzarello because of steel barricades in the park.

Al Baker, a spokesman for the court system, said the trial schedule would not be affected, though one court officer had been taken to hospital because of the effects of smoke inhalation.

Fred Gates, 60, said he had been riding his bike through the park when he stopped to watch the Trump supporters and saw Mr. Azzarello getting ready to light himself on fire. Mr. Gates said he thought it was a prank or a performance until he saw the flames.

Another witness, Gideon Oliver, a civil rights lawyer, said he saw smoke rising from the park and a court officer rushing from a building carrying a fire extinguisher.

“When I saw and smelled the smoke I thought someone, I assumed one of the pro-Trump protesters, had lit a fire in the park,” Mr. Oliver said. “When I saw police and court officers running, I then thought it might have been a bomb.”

Mr. Azzarello stood tall as he poured the accelerant on himself and then held a flame at chest level. As people nearest him fled, others cried out as they realized what he was about to do.

Screams and shouts — though not from him — filled the air as the flames consumed him and he slowly collapsed.

If you are having thoughts of suicide, you can call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources.

Wesley Parnell , Alan Feuer , Chelsia Rose Marcius , Jan Ransom , Maria Cramer , Stefanos Chen , Nicholas Fandos and Dana Rubinstein contributed reporting.

Matthew Haag writes about the intersection of real estate and politics in the New York region. He has been a journalist for two decades. More about Matthew Haag

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