In 1610, Galileo Galilei observed four objects orbiting the planet Jupiter. These Medicini Moons were named named Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. And, more importantly, provided evidence against an Earth-centered view of the universe.

NASA sent several robotic emissaries out to these distant moons. The Voyager, Galileo, Cassini and Juno missions showed each moon to be unique with outstanding characteristics...Io is the most volcanic object in the solar system, Europa is the most likely object to host extra-terrestrial life, Ganymede is the only moon with a magnetic dynamo, and Callisto is an icy moon covered in impact craters. Join us to journey out to these amazing celestial bodies and immerse yourself in the history of exploration as humankind makes plans for future exploration.

Bio: Dr. Fran Bagenal was born and grew up in England. She studied Physics and Geophysics at the University of Lancaster. In 1976, inspired by NASA’s missions to Mars and the prospect of the Voyager mission, she moved to the US for graduate study at MIT. Her 1981 PhD thesis involved analysis of data from the Voyager Plasma Science experiment in Jupiter’s giant magnetosphere. She spent 1982-1987 as a post-doctoral researcher in space physics at Imperial College, London. Voyager flybys of Uranus and Neptune brought her back to the US and she joined the faculty at the University of Colorado, Boulder in 1989. She is professor of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences and Research Scientist at the Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics. In 2015 she stopped teaching in order to have time to focus on Pluto and Jupiter.

In addition to the Voyager mission, Dr. Bagenal has been on the science teams of the Galileo mission to Jupiter and the Deep Space 1 mission to Comet Borrelly. She edited Jupiter: Planet, Satellites and Magnetosphere (Cambridge University Press, 2004). She heads the plasma teams on the first two New Frontiers missions: the New Horizons mission that – after a 9.5-year flight – flew past Pluto on July 14, 2015 and Juno that went into orbit over the poles of Jupiter in 2016.