Stephen P. Synnott facts for kids
Stephen P. Synnott is an American astronomer who has made exciting discoveries about our solar system. He works at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which is a special place where scientists build and control spacecraft. Stephen Synnott is an expert in how spacecraft use cameras to find their way around in space. This is called "optical navigation."
He is famous for his work on the Voyager missions. These were two amazing spacecraft, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, that explored the outer planets of our solar system.
Discovering New Moons
Stephen Synnott has discovered several natural satellites, which are also known as moons. These moons orbit the giant planets in the outer parts of our solar system. He found these moons using images sent back by the Voyager spacecraft.
Some of the moons he discovered include:
- Metis
- Puck
- Larissa (this moon was seen before but then lost, and Stephen Synnott helped find it again)
- Cressida
- Thebe
- Proteus
These discoveries helped scientists learn more about the planets and how their moon systems formed.
A Planet Named After Him
It is a very special honor for a scientist to have something in space named after them. A small planet, called a minor planet, was named after Stephen Synnott. This minor planet is known as 6154 Stevesynnott.
The minor planet was discovered by another astronomer, Henry E. Holt, in 1990. The official naming of 6154 Stevesynnott happened in 1996. This shows how important Stephen Synnott's contributions to astronomy have been.
Images for kids
-
Joe Donegan, Ed Travers, Linda Morabito and Steve Synnott in the navigation team’s image processing room, where the discovery of active volcanism on Io took place.
