The mythology and scientific discoveries surrounding the
planet Jupiter will be celebrated in a free public
presentation at Pasadena City College’s Vosloh Forum
auditorium, on Saturday, Dec. 30 at 7 p.m., sponsored by
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in honor of the Cassini
spacecraft’s flyby of that planet occurring on the same day.
Readings from mythology and scientific observations of
Jupiter through the ages will be presented. There will be an
appearance by Galileo Galilei (played by actor Mark Thompson),
who will describe his view of the sky in 1610 when he first
turned his telescope toward Jupiter and recorded his momentous
discoveries. Observations of Jupiter made in the modern era
by NASA spacecraft and Earth-based astronomers will be
included.
The two-hour multimedia event, “Jupiter in Myth, History,
& Science,” commemorates the Dec. 30 flyby of Jupiter by
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, bound for Saturn. At the same time,
NASA’s Galileo spacecraft, named for the famed astronomer, has
been studying Jupiter in depth since it entered orbit around
the giant planet in December 1995. Both spacecraft were built
at and are operated by JPL. Communications with the
interplanetary spacecraft are conducted through NASA’s global
Deep Space Network, also managed by JPL.
Pasadena City College’s Vosloh Forum is located on the
east side of the campus. Auditorium seating is on a first-
come, first-served basis, and parking is free. For directions
to the campus, see
http://www.paccd.cc.ca.us/map/pcccampus.htm .
For more information on the Galileo and Cassini
spacecraft observations at Jupiter, see
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/jupiterflyby .
JPL, NASA’s lead center for robotic exploration of the
solar system, is a division of the California Institute of
Technology in Pasadena.
