Carolyn Porco facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Carolyn Porco
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| Born | March 6, 1953 Bronx, New York, U.S.
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| Alma mater | California Institute of Technology Stony Brook University |
| Known for | Leader of Cassini Imaging Team; Discoveries about Saturn system; Member of Voyager Imaging Team; Expert in Planetary rings and Enceladus; The Day the Earth Smiled; Science communicator & public speaker; Film consultant. |
| Awards | Porco asteroid; Lennart Nilsson Award (2009); AAS Carl Sagan Medal (2010); Caltech Distinguished Alumni Award (2011); Time 25 Most Influential People in Space (2012) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Planetary science Imaging science |
| Institutions | Cassini Imaging Central Laboratory for Operations, University of Colorado at Boulder |
| Doctoral advisor | Peter Goldreich |
Carolyn C. Porco (born March 6, 1953) is an American planetary scientist. She studies the outer parts of our Solar System. She started her work in the 1980s with the Voyager missions. These missions explored Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
Later, she led the team that took pictures for the Cassini mission. This spacecraft orbited Saturn. Carolyn Porco is a top expert on planetary rings and Saturn's moon, Enceladus.
She has written over 110 science papers. These papers cover many topics. They include how light reflects off planetary rings and how moons interact with rings. She also studied heat inside Jupiter and results from the Cassini mission. In 2013, Cassini data proved a prediction she made in 1993. She and Mark Marley predicted that sounds inside Saturn create special features in its rings.
Porco also started The Day the Earth Smiled. She helped honor a famous geologist, Eugene Shoemaker. His remains were sent to the Moon aboard the Lunar Prospector spacecraft in 1998.
Carolyn Porco often gives public talks. She has given two popular talks at TED. She also gave the opening speech for Pangea Day in 2008. In this speech, she talked about humanity's place in the universe. She has won many awards for her work in science and for sharing it with the public. In 2009, New Statesman magazine called her one of 'The 50 People Who Matter Today.'
In 2010, she received the Carl Sagan Medal. This award is for excellent science communication. In 2012, Time magazine named her one of the 25 most important people in space.
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Early Life and Learning
Carolyn Porco was born in New York City. She finished high school in 1970. She went to Cardinal Spellman High School in the Bronx.
She earned her first science degree in 1974 from Stony Brook University. In 1983, she got her Ph.D. in Planetary Sciences. This was from the California Institute of Technology. Her Ph.D. work focused on discoveries made by Voyager about Saturn's rings. Her advisor was Peter Goldreich.
Her Amazing Career
Exploring with Voyager
In 1983, Carolyn Porco joined the University of Arizona. The same year, she became part of the Voyager Imaging Team. She helped with the Voyager 2 missions. These missions flew past Uranus in 1986 and Neptune in 1989. She led the team studying rings during the Neptune mission.
Porco was the first to explain strange behaviors in Saturn's rings. She also explained how moons like Cordelia and Ophelia shaped Uranus's rings. She also explained how Galatea shaped Neptune's rings. She helped come up with the idea to take a "portrait of the planets" with the Voyager 1 spacecraft. She helped plan and take these pictures in 1990. This included the famous Pale Blue Dot image of Earth.
Discoveries with Cassini
In 1990, Porco was chosen to lead the Imaging Team for the Cassini-Huygens mission. This mission successfully put a spacecraft around Saturn. It also sent the Huygens probe to Titan, Saturn's largest moon. She also directs the Cassini Imaging Central Laboratory for Operations (CICLOPS). This is where Cassini images are processed and shared with the public. CICLOPS is part of the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado.
During the Cassini mission, Porco and her team found seven new moons of Saturn. These include Methone, Pallene, Polydeuces, Daphnis, Anthe, Aegaeon, and a small moonlet in the B ring. They also found new rings. Some rings were near the orbits of other moons.
In 2013, Cassini data confirmed a prediction Porco made in 1993. She and Mark Marley predicted that sounds inside Saturn create features in its rings. This showed that planetary rings can act like a "seismograph." This means they can record movements inside the planet. This helps scientists understand Saturn's inner structure better.
Porco's team also saw a lake of liquid hydrocarbons on Titan in 2005. They saw more of these lakes in 2007. Other Cassini instruments later confirmed these lakes are filled with liquid.
Her team also saw plumes erupting from Enceladus. This is Saturn's sixth-largest moon. They suggested these jets might be geysers. These geysers could be erupting from pockets of liquid water under the moon's south pole.
Journey to Pluto with New Horizons
Porco was part of the imaging team for the New Horizons mission. This mission flew to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt. She worked on this team until 2014. The probe flew past Pluto in 2015.
The Day the Earth Smiled
As the Cassini imaging team leader, Porco planned a special photo. On July 19, 2013, Cassini took a picture of Saturn with Earth in the distance. This was like the famous Pale Blue Dot photo. This picture was part of a bigger idea called The Day The Earth Smiled. People around the world were asked to smile when the picture was taken. This was to celebrate humanity's place in the universe.
Teaching and Research
Porco taught at the University of Arizona from 1983 to 2001. She became a full professor in 1991. She taught both college and graduate students. She was even a finalist for a teaching award chosen by students.
Today, Porco is a senior research scientist at the Space Science Institute. This institute is in Boulder, Colorado. She is also a professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Helping NASA Explore
Porco has helped guide America's space exploration program. She has been on many important NASA committees. These committees advise NASA on future missions. She also helped lead a group that planned future missions to the outer solar system.
Sharing Science with Everyone
Porco often gives talks about the Cassini mission and space exploration. She has spoken at famous conferences like PopTech and TED.
In her 2007 TED talk, "The Human Journey," she talked about two big discoveries from Cassini. These were about Saturn's moons, Titan and Enceladus. She explained that "the journey back to Saturn is really part of, and is also a metaphor for, a much larger human voyage."
She described Titan's environment, with its nitrogen air and organic chemicals. She asked the audience to imagine the moon's surface:
Stop and think for a minute. Try to imagine what the surface of Titan might look like. It's dark: high noon on Titan is as dark as deep Earth twilight on the Earth. It's cold, it's eerie, it's misty, it might be raining, and you are standing on the shores of Lake Michigan brimming with paint thinner.
That is the view that we had of the surface of Titan before we got there with Cassini. And I can tell you that what we have found on Titan, though not the same in detail, is every bit as fascinating as that story is, and for us, for Cassini people, it has been like a Jules Verne adventure come true.
After showing pictures of Titan, Porco talked about Enceladus. She described the jets of "fine icy particles" shooting from its south pole:
...we have arrived at the conclusion that these jets may, they may, be erupting from pockets of liquid water near, under the surface of Enceladus. So we have, possibly, liquid water, organic materials and excess heat. In other words we have possibly stumbled upon the holy grail of modern-day planetary exploration, or in other words an environment that is potentially suitable for living organisms. And I don't think I need to tell you that the discovery of life elsewhere in our Solar system, whether it be on Enceladus or elsewhere, would have enormous cultural and scientific implications. Because if we could demonstrate that genesis had occurred – not once but twice, independently, in our Solar system – then that means by inference it has occurred a staggering number of times throughout our Universe in its 13.7 billion year history.
Her 2009 TED Talk asked, "Could a Saturn moon harbor life?"
On TV and in Movies
Porco has often appeared on CNN to talk about astronomy. She has been on many TV and radio shows. She explains science to people who are not scientists. She appeared on 60 Minutes and The Century. She was also in documentaries like The Planets on the Discovery Channel and the BBC. For a 2003 special about the Voyager mission, she was on screen. She also helped as a science advisor for the show.
Porco was an advisor for the 1997 movie Contact. This movie was based on a book by astronomer Carl Sagan. The actress Jodie Foster played the main character. Carl Sagan reportedly suggested she use Porco as a real-life example for her role.
Porco also advised on the 2009 movie Star Trek. She suggested the scene where the Enterprise spaceship comes out of warp drive into Titan's atmosphere. It rises like a submarine with Saturn and its rings in the background.
She also appeared on the BBC's Stargazing Live in 2014. In 2017, she was in The Farthest, a documentary about the Voyager program.
Spreading the Word
Porco has given many interviews for newspapers and magazines. She talks about space exploration. She has been featured in The New York Times, Discover Magazine, and on CNN.com.
She has written popular science articles for magazines like Astronomy and Scientific American. She helps present science to the public as the leader of the Cassini Imaging Team. She also creates and edits the website where Cassini images are posted. She writes the "Captain's Log" message for the public on the site.
She is also the CEO of Diamond Sky Productions. This company uses planetary images and computer graphics to share science with the public.
Awards and Special Recognitions
In 1999, The Sunday Times named Porco one of 18 science leaders of the 21st century. Industry Week also named her one of 50 Stars to Watch. In 2008, Wired magazine put her on their 'Smart List.'
An asteroid was named after her: (7231) Porco. This was to honor her work studying planetary rings and exploring the outer solar system.
In 2008, Porco received the Isaac Asimov Science Award. In 2009, she got an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Stony Brook University.
In September 2009, she won The Huntington Library's Science Writer Fellowship. The same month, New Statesman named her one of 'The 50 People Who Matter Today.'
In October 2009, she and Babak Amin Tafreshi won the 2009 Lennart Nilsson Award. This was for their amazing photography. The award said Porco "combines the finest techniques of planetary exploration and scientific research with aesthetic finesse and educational talent. While her images... serve as tools for the world's leading experts, they also reveal the beauty of the universe in a manner that is an inspiration to one and all."
In October 2010, Porco received the 2010 Carl Sagan Medal. This award is for communicating science to the public.
In 2011, she won the Distinguished Alumni Award from the California Institute of Technology. This is Caltech's highest honor.
In 2012, Time magazine named Porco one of the 25 most important people in space.
Porco received the Sikkens Prize in 2020. This was for her "exceptional contribution to a realistic and colourful image of the universe." The award was given on October 2, 2022.
Fun Facts: Music and Dance
Carolyn Porco loves the 1960s and The Beatles. She sometimes includes references to The Beatles in her talks and writings. She visited Paul McCartney's childhood home in Liverpool. The first color image Cassini released was of Jupiter. It was released on October 9, 2000, to honor John Lennon's 60th birthday. In 2006, she made a short movie with 64 amazing Cassini images. She set it to Beatles music to honor Paul McCartney's 64th birthday. In 2007, she made a poster with 64 scenes from Saturn.
Porco also likes dance and is a big fan of Michael Jackson. In 2010, she won a Michael Jackson costume and dance contest!
Some of Porco's quotes were used in songs by Symphony of Science. These songs combine science with music.
See also
In Spanish: Carolyn Porco para niños
- List of women in leadership positions on astronomical instrumentation projects
