Carolyn Porco

Carolyn Porco
Born (1953-03-06) March 6, 1953 (age 71)
Bronx, New York, U.S.
Alma materCalifornia Institute of Technology
Stony Brook University
Known forLeader 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.
AwardsPorco 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
FieldsPlanetary science
Imaging science
InstitutionsCassini Imaging Central Laboratory for Operations, University of Colorado at Boulder
Doctoral advisorPeter Goldreich

Carolyn C. Porco (born March 6, 1953) is an American planetary scientist who explores the outer Solar System, beginning with her imaging work on the Voyager missions to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune in the 1980s. She led the imaging science team on the Cassini mission in orbit around Saturn.[1] She is an expert on planetary rings and the Saturnian moon, Enceladus.

She has co-authored more than 110 scientific papers on subjects ranging from the spectroscopy of Uranus and Neptune, the interstellar medium, the photometry of planetary rings, satellite/ring interactions, computer simulations of planetary rings, the thermal balance of Triton's polar caps, heat flow in the interior of Jupiter, and a suite of results on the atmosphere, satellites, and rings of Saturn from the Cassini imaging experiment.[2] In 2013, Cassini data[3] confirmed a 1993 prediction[4] by Porco and Mark Marley that acoustic oscillations within the body of Saturn are responsible for creating particular features in the rings of Saturn.

Porco was founder of The Day the Earth Smiled. She was also responsible for the epitaph and proposal to honor the renowned planetary geologist Eugene Shoemaker by sending his cremains to the Moon aboard the Lunar Prospector spacecraft in 1998.[5][6]

A frequent public speaker, Porco has given two popular lectures at TED[7][8] as well as the opening speech for Pangea Day, a May 2008 global broadcast coordinated from six cities around the world, in which she described the cosmic context for human existence.[9] Porco has also won a number of awards and honors for her contributions to science and the public sphere; for instance, in 2009, New Statesman named her as one of 'The 50 People Who Matter Today.'[10]

In 2010, Porco was awarded the Carl Sagan Medal, presented by the American Astronomical Society for Excellence in the Communication of Science to the Public.[11] In 2012, she was named one of the 25 most influential people in space by Time magazine.[12]

  1. ^ "Cassini Solstice Mission: Team Members". JPL. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
  2. ^ "Cassini Imaging Team Science Results". CICLOPS. Archived from the original on July 13, 2011. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
  3. ^ Hedman, M. M.; Nicholson, P. D. (2013). "Kronoseismology: Using density waves in Saturn's C ring to probe the planet's interior". The Astronomical Journal. 146 (1): 12. arXiv:1304.3735. Bibcode:2013AJ....146...12H. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/146/1/12. S2CID 119109859.
  4. ^ Marley, M. S.; Porco, C. C. (1993). "Planetary Acoustic Mode Seismology: Saturn's Rings". Icarus. 106 (2): 508–524. Bibcode:1993Icar..106..508M. doi:10.1006/icar.1993.1189.
  5. ^ Porco, C. C. (February 2000). "Destination Moon" (PDF). Astronomy. pp. 52–55.
  6. ^ Porco, C. C. (April 13, 2006). "Eugene M. Shoemaker: A Tribute". CICLOPS. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
  7. ^ Porco, C. C. (March 2007). "This is Saturn". TED. Archived from the original on February 26, 2014. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
  8. ^ Porco, C. C. (February 2009). "Could a Saturn Moon Harbor Life?". TED. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
  9. ^ "Pangea Day Intro". YouTube. May 10, 2008. Archived from the original on December 12, 2021. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
  10. ^ "The 50 people who matter today: 31-40". New Statesman. September 24, 2009. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
  11. ^ "Cassini Imaging Leader Honored With American Astronomical Society Carl Sagan Award". CICLOPS. Retrieved August 22, 2013.
  12. ^ Bjerklie, D. (Fall 2012). "The 25 Most Influential People in Space" (PDF). TIME. pp. 88–99. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 15, 2013.