Discovering Water on Enceledus with Carolyn “Madam Saturn” Porco & Neil deGrasse Tyson

How much has space imaging furthered our understanding of the Universe? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice learn the story of cameras on space probes like Voyager and Cassini and the exciting science of Saturn with planetary scientist Carolyn Porco. Discover the saga that led to the taking of Voyager’s image Pale Blue Dot. What is the history of early space probes? We discuss the importance of space imaging and how close we were to not having pictures of the planets. How much funding did it take to get Pale Blue Dot? Find out about Carl Sagan’s appeal to NASA and Carolyns role in it all. How did the Cassini mission aim to go beyond the abilities of Voyager? Carolyn shares with us her bucket list for the mission and the challenges of trying to recreate Pale Blue Dot. What creates the colors in Cassini’s images? What would Saturn look like with the naked eye? Learn about what Cassini learned about Enceladus and concerns about contaminating the Saturnian Moon. Can we keep commercial space companies abiding by planetary protection practices? Could we someday livestream a flyby of the planets in real-time? Discover the video already taken by Cassini, available at: https://ciclops.org/th_clips.php.html. Carolyn gives her take on the increasing satellites populating the night’s sky. Learn how the rings of Saturn helped uncover the wave responsible for forming spiral galaxies. Plus, find out the mystery of the hexagon on Saturn’s south pole. Thanks to our Patrons Collin Money, Jeffery K Ogren, José Luis Pizano Escalante, Micheal Yablon, Artemis ma, and Paul Scott ifor supporting us this week. NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can watch or listen to this entire episode commercial-free. Get the NEW Cosmic Queries book (5/5 ⭐s on Amazon!): https://amzn.to/3dYIEQF Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/startalkradio FOLLOW or SUBSCRIBE to StarTalk: Twitter: http://twitter.com/startalkradio Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StarTalk Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/startalk About StarTalk: Science meets pop culture on StarTalk! Astrophysicist & Hayden Planetarium director Neil deGrasse Tyson, his comic co-hosts, guest celebrities & scientists discuss astronomy, physics, and everything else about life in the universe. Keep Looking Up! #StarTalk #neildegrassetyson 00:00 - Introduction: Space Imaging 02:18 - Early Planetary Probes & Carl Sagan 06:17 - The Pale Blue Dot & Voyager 13:35 - The Day the Earth Smiled & Cassini 21:13 - Color Imaging 23:55 - Earthrise: Seeing the Globe for the First Time 25:47 - Finding the Oceans of Enceladus 29:38 - Planetary Protection & Commercial Space 32:40 - JWST Monitoring Enceladus 33:41 - Could We Live Stream Flybys of the Planets? 35:57 - The End of the Night’s Sky 40:47 - Carolyn Porco’s Most Interesting Discovery 44:28 - Saturn’s South Pole Hexagon