The many discoveries of the Galileo spacecraft in its journey through space
and around Jupiter will be explored at CU-Boulder’s Fiske Planetarium on
Friday, Feb. 21, and Tuesday, Feb. 25, at 7:30 p.m.
University of Colorado at Boulder Professor Fran Bagenal will present her
live show “Galileo: Mission to Jupiter,” as part of the planetarium’s
monthly astronomy talks. The live talks are given by CU-Boulder professors
and guest lecturers.
During her show Bagenal will present the explorations of Jupiter from the
time of Galileo Galilei’s first discovery of Jupiter’s moons in 1610 to the
recent flyby of Jupiter by the Cassini spacecraft on its way to Saturn.
The audience will learn about the stormy weather in Jupiter’s atmosphere
where storm systems can merge and create giant storms that make hurricanes
on Earth look like an afternoon breeze, said Bagenal, a professor in the
astrophysical and planetary sciences department.
The audience also will see images of the swirling clouds of Jupiter’s
atmosphere and the strange geology caused by the extremes of ice and molten
lava on the four very different worlds of the Galilean moons.
Galileo was launched in October 1989 from space shuttle Atlantis with the
mission of studying Jupiter and its moons in more detail than ever before.
Admission for the show is $5 for adults, $4 for students and $3 for children
and seniors. Tickets go on sale at 7 p.m. the night of the show. The
Sommers-Bausch Observatory will be open to the public after the Friday
evening show, weather permitting. Admission to the observatory is free.
For more information about Fiske Planetarium and other shows and programs it
offers, call (303) 492-5001 or visit the Web site at www.colorado.edu/fiske.
