Io Volcanism Discovery Remembered Options

[lindamorabito]

This is my first posting on UMSF! Although I have most recently been working in the microwave region of the spectrum, involving students with the use of a Goldstone radio telescope, I am best known for my discovery of the volcanic activity on Io.

My discovery of volcanic activity on Jupiter’s moon Io took place on March 9, 1979 at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. At the time I was serving as Cognizant Engineer over the Optical Navigation Image Processing System on the Voyager Navigation Team. What I found in a picture of Io taken by Voyager 1 has been described as the largest discovery of the planetary exploration program. It is now part of a larger picture defining a new category of worlds which may have geologic activity and potentially life, powered by gravitational tidal forces.

I have always intended to tell the story of how I made my discovery and how my life led me to this historic find, but it was not my destiny to have just one story to tell. Twenty-five years after my discovery, I learned that my past held a secret which took some of the most profound capabilities of the human mind to endure. I began a “journey” through time, as profound and compelling as my lifelong “journey” through space. As a scientist who once dreamed of traveling into space and reporting back on my findings, I am now reporting back. Please join me on my website www.lindamorabito.com if you are interested in reading an unforgettable memoir “Parallel Universes, A Memoir from the Edges of Space and Time.”

Will keep you posted on the progress of Parallel Universes.

Linda Morabito

This post has been edited by volcanopele: Jan 27 2010, 09:21 PM

Reason for edit: hyperlinked name of website to make it easier for folks to get there

[ElkGroveDan]

Belated congrats Linda on your discovery. I remember the occasion well.

[djellison]

I remember watching you retell it on the BBC flagship series 'The Planets'

A hell of a time to have been involved in it - thanks for visiting UMSF !

[Decepticon]

I have your picture on my National Geographic!

Welcome to UMSF!!

[ElkGroveDan]

For those who haven't seen it there was a great interview by A.J.S. Rayl at TPS in 2002 for the 25 anniversary of Voyager:

http://www.planetary.org/explore/topics/vo...ries_kelly.html

[volcanopele]

Welcome to UMSF (nice to another UMSFer with an Io plume as their avatar

If it weren't for what you found, I'd probably be just out of law school by now...

[nprev]

An honor to "meet" you, Linda! I remember the plume discovery well, and the picture of you with the discovery image. Good times!!!

[Jay Gallentine]

Holy Cow, it's Linda Morabito!

Hello Ms. Morabito, and may I echo the welcome to UMSF.

Yours is a wonderful story.

Best Regards,
Jay Gallentine

[lyford]

Welcome, I remember you from Cosmos!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv-ioxGNx30

[dilo]

Welcome, Linda!
This is a little present for you, a processed version of most famous eruption picture with some noise/artifact reduction--

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[lindamorabito]

It is truly wonderful to be welcomed like this by UMSF! I teach at college now the very things that were first observed in that ONIPS room some time ago, and for the very first time. Voyager redefined our perception of the solar system, and now our perception of worlds beyond that. Thanks so much for the gift of that spectacular image of Io, dilo! I am appreciating each and every response.

Linda

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

Remember the TV news announcement of the discovery of volcanic eruptions on Io as it was yesterday.
As a Voyager navigation engineer Linda Morabito was checking faint background stars in the spacecraft's line of departure...

[kwp]

My discovery of volcanic activity on Jupiter’s moon Io took place on March 9, 1979 at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA.

Perhaps the most beautiful aspect of this discovery is that it represents one of the greatest triumphs of theory in the last quarter of the 20th century. The theoretical prediction of Io's vulcanism came out in print in Science a week to the day _before_ those op-nav photos were snapped.

Peale, S.J., Cassen, P. and Reynolds, R.T., Science, _203_, 892-894 (Mar 2, 1979)

Melting of Io by Tidal Dissipation

Abstract. The dissipation of tidal energy in Jupiter’s satellite Io is likely to have melted a major fraction of the mass. Consequences of a largely molten interior may be evident in pictures of Io’s surface returned by Voyager 1.

Quoting from the article itself: "The surface of the type of body postulated here has not yet been directly observed, and although the morphology of such a surface cannot be predicted in any detail, one might speculate that widespread and recurrent surface volcanism would occur"

[imipak]

Welcome, Linda! I well remember this thread from 2007: http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?showtopic=3855 ...because it lead me to find and watch an entire mid-80s BBC 'Horizon' documentary on Voyager, which included an interview with you. (Not sure if it's the same one as in Cosmos?) I then spent an entire evening watching the hour-long show in 10 minute chunks on YouTube. It's a shame they don't make TV like that any more.

[lindamorabito]

Imipak, hello! Thinking way, way back, I do not believe what was televised in England as Horizon was Cosmos, but rather an episode of Nova; the first one that I was in. I remember I had friends in England at the time who were seeing it coincident with what was presented in the U.S.

And thank you, you have all made me feel very welcome. Indeed, Stanton Peale made an exceptional prediction!