401 G (Galileo's Jupiter discoveries at 401 years)

7 January, 1610.   A date described as "sparkling" in astronomical history.  It was 401 years ago today that Galileo first observed Jupiter with his relatively simple 20 power telescope, observing 3 bright stars in a line with the planet.  It took 3 more nights for him to realize that these "stars" were traveling with Jupiter, and thus in orbit about the planet.  But when he did and began to communicate this discovery with his peers, things began to change.  Superstition and conjecture began to give way to observation and experimentation.  Modern science had begun.  Hard to believe it was 1 year ago this week that I was in Padua celebrating Galileo and his discoveries with my colleagues.  Since then, the "Atlas of the Galileo Satellites" has been published and I continue to work on various Galilean satellite projects, including digital flyover movies of the satellites, as well as new science on Saturn's fascinating family of icy satellites.  In the meantime, the planets continue to orbit the Sun and politicians betray their promises once again . . . . 

Happy New Year!

Houston 2010

Pictures (of moons) at an Exhibition

Padova, January 2010

Galileo's Lecture Hall at Aula Magna, Padova, January 2010

Dining 1610 style, Padova, January 2010

and the Crowd Cheers Wildly . . .

The Atlas has started to arrive in the USA (after being rowed over from the UK), and the first comments have been unfettered praise (yeah!).  I've posted a few of these nice words along the side column.  Alas, I must also note that at least one individual received their copy only to see its binding fail, wherein several pages came apart along the binding.  It seems there was an anomaly in the gluing process in some copies.  This was first observed in the initial shipment, and the stocks were promptly examined and flawed copies removed.  Apparently one or two such copies have gotten through.  If this should happen to your book, the proscribed remedy it to contact Cambridge Press (at directcustserve@cambridge.org) immediately for a fix to the problem.  Sorry about that fellas!  I'm certainly not happy about it but am hopeful that it was discovered and fixed before any other copies were shipped.  

Hardcopy Arrives

"Error!  Error!  Must Sterilize . . . "
My copy finally arrived and I found an error.  Two misplaced names in the last line of the Acknowledgements.  Oh well.  This and any other errors (however unlikely) will be reported here in the sidebars.
Otherwise, I am pleased to report that the colors all came out just fine and very well done.  All figures look nice, tables laid out correctly, etc.  Enjoy!
Paul

On the Shelves!

Woopie!  The book is finally printed and on the shelves (in the UK at least) ready for shipping.  Delivery in the US may take another few weeks (I don't even have a copy yet!).  In the coming weeks I hope to add additional data tables, reviews, and other supporting materials.  Check back every so often and sign up to receive updates.
Paul

Atlas of the Galilean Satellites

A New Reference
In spite of numerous handicaps and hazards, including lethal radiation and malfunctioning hardware, the two Voyagers and then Galileo have completed the first high-resolution visual reconnaissance of the 4 planetary moons called Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.  The Atlas of the Galilean Satellites (Cambridge University Press, May, 2010: ISBN, 9780521868358) has brought together these complimentary data sets to produce new global maps and views of each satellite.  In addition, all high-resolution images acquired by both Voyager and Galileo have been registered, mapped, and compiled together for the first time.  Sites include giant impact scars on Ganymede and Callisto, heavily faulted terrains of Ganymede, disrupted chaos and ridge terrains of Europa, and erupting volcanoes and 10 mile high mountains on Io.

The Atlas includes:
- 404 pages, featuring all Voyager and Galileo imagery
- Introductory text
         Discovery and Importance of Galilean Satellites
         Guide to acquisition and processing of images
         Geologic Background
- Global color maps & hemispheric views of each satellite
- Full resolution maps (Quadrangles) of each satellite
           (15 equal-area maps each, in color for Io & Europa)
- 250+ High-resolution Plates down to 6 meter resolution
           (many on Io and Europa in color)
- Io hotspot and Volcano change maps
- Selected infrared compositional maps
- Selected high-resolution perspective views
- Appendices:
     Data Tables:  Satellite Properties & Spacecraft Encounters
     Supplemental Reading recommendations
     Gazetteer of feature names
     Glossary of terms
     Index maps locating all high-resolution mosaics

    CHAPTERS

    Preface

    1. Introduction

        1.1  Revolutionary Importance of the Galilean Satellites

        1.2  Post-discovery

        1.3  Voyager and Galileo

    2. Format of the Atlas

        2.1  Nomenclature

    3. Making the Maps

        3.1  Image Calibration

        3.2  Cartographic Control

        3.3  Putting it All Together

        3.4  True Colors

    4. Geology of the Galilean Satellites

        4.1  The Importance of Being Ice

        4.2  Volcanism

        4.3  Tectonism

        4.4  Viscous Relaxation

        4.5  Other Global Effects

        4.6  Polar Processes

        4.7  Impact Cratering

     5. The Galilean Satellites (Maps)

        5.1  Callisto

        5.2  Ganymede

        5.3  Europa

        5.4  Io

     6. One Big Happy . . .

        6.1  Why Explore Jupiter?

        6.2  The Future

     Appendices:

        A1. Supplemental Readings

        A2. Index Maps

        A3. Data Tables

        A4. Glossary of terms
        A5. Gazetteer

Galileo's Moons at 400

7 January 1610

A Revolutionary Day

On a cold winters night in January of 1610 at his home in Padova, Northern Italy, Galileo pointed a telescope at the planet Jupiter for the first time and became the first human to see objects in orbit about another celestial object.  These were the four planet-sized moons orbiting Jupiter, each similar in size to our own Moon or larger.  It did not take Galileo very long to understand the importance (both to human evolution and to himself) of the 4 "stars" close to Jupiter he had discovered during his first observations of that planet in the cool italian winter of 1610.  Indeed, as December 1609 drew to close, noone suspected that their universe was about to undergo a revolutionary change, but Galileo's discovery that January of 4 objects orbiting an object other than Earth (together with the phases of Venus) signaled the end of the Earth-centered view of the Universe. 

1979-2003

A Second Galilean Revolution

Not even Galileo, however, could conceive of the true nature of these four planet-like bodies and the role gravity has played in their history (Galileo had some knowledge on this subject having also conducted simple experiments to test the nature of gravity).  For 370 years, however, the nature of these moons remained largely unknown to us.  At that point, two robot voyagers and a larger robotic "Galileo" came along to explore these 4 moons in earnest, and even learned scientists of our own time were not prepared for what they saw, including volcanoes on Io and subsurface oceans on Europa and the other icy satellites.  What these spacecraft saw proved to be a second Galilean revolution, in our understanding of how planets operate and the (perhaps) universality of habitable environments in our universe.

2010

Galileo at 400 Years: Looking Ahead

Four hundred years after Galileo ushered in a new era, serious plans are in preparations for a robotic return to the dynamic Jupiter system, with a focus on the large ice-rich moons Europa and Ganymede.  As part of the special anniversary celebration, Cambridge University Press and Dr. Paul Schenk and pleased to announce the pending release of the Atlas of the Galilean Satellites.  This is the first truly comprehensive Atlas and compendium of maps of these satellites ever compiled (details on the other pages).  This volume will be of prime importance for those planning the next phase of exploration of Jupiter and its large planetary moons in the next decade and beyond.

Padova and Galileo - 1610-2010 Celebration

Buongiorno!
If you have noticed that I havent posted anything here in the past two months, it is mainly because I have been preparing a big set of new videos of the Galilean satellites to support the 400th anniversary celebration here in Padova, where the actual event occurred on a cold winter night not unlike the cold weather we are having now. I sit in the cozy comfort of our hotel room this morning overlooking the cold (1°C today) train station uploading video to facebook. It will probably take the rest of the day to complete. I will have more to report tonight after the official reception for the meeting being hosted here. I am supposed to lead a tour of some large posters I contributed to the celebration. In the meantime, I post some stills below as videos continue to upload.
ciao!
paolo

(watch for updates to this post!)