The need for a detailed, comprehensive examination of the Saturn system became clear during the early 1980s, after the two Voyager spacecraft made flybys of the planet. These celebrated events were the opening acts in the story of humanity’s exploration of Saturn. Carolyn Porco Read Quote
Carl Sagan: A Life,’ though a riveting tale, tells as much about the all-too-human feelings of jealousy and resentment as it does about the individual who inspired them. Carolyn Porco Read Quote
Saturn is accompanied by a very large and diverse collection of moons. They range in size from a few kilometers across to as big across as the U.S. Carolyn Porco Read Quote
For me, it was my first cosmic connection, on par with a first kiss. No other planet looks as unworldly or surreal as Saturn. When you see it floating in the eyepiece of your telescope, you feel as if you’ve uncovered mystery in the cosmos. Carolyn Porco Read Quote
The geysering on Enceladus is the most astonishing phenomenon we have in our solar system. Carolyn Porco Read Quote
Most of the solar system resides beyond the orbits of the asteroids. There is more to learn there about general planetary processes than on Mars. Carolyn Porco Read Quote
Scientists tend to come in two stripes: those who have tremendous appetite and aptitude for the details, and those who illuminate the big picture. Sagan was definitely in the latter category, and he was profoundly good at it. He made connections that others did not have the intellectual breadth or courage to make. Carolyn Porco Read Quote
I know that I derive the same kind of spiritual fulfillment from what I do, being a planetary scientist, seeing our exploration of the solar system come to fruition. I get such a spiritual high from it that I don’t even see the need for religion. Carolyn Porco Read Quote
Voyager found Saturn to be a planet with a complex interior, atmosphere, and magnetosphere. In its rings – a vast, gleaming disk of icy rubble – the mission recorded signs of the same physical mechanisms that were key in configuring the early solar system and similar disks of material around other stars. Carolyn Porco Read Quote