ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Carolyn Porco - Planetary scientist
As the leader of the Imaging Team on the Cassini mission to Saturn, Carolyn Porco interprets and shares the pictures coming back from this fascinating planet, its rings and its moons.

Why you should listen

Planetary scientist Carolyn Porco studies and interprets the photos from NASA space missions like the renowned Voyager mission to the outer solar system in the 1980s and the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn. She leads a team of scientists from the US and Europe that has been analyzing the images Cassini has sent back since it left Earth in 1997. At Saturn, they have found new phenomena everywhere they've turned their cameras … in the planet’s atmosphere, within its rings and on the surfaces of its many moons. And they've produced spectacular images and animations of these marvels in the process.

Back in the early-1980s, while still working on her doctorate, Porco was drafted onto the Voyager imaging team to assist in crunching the mountains of data coming back from Voyager’s fly-by of Saturn. Her work on the planet's rings and their relation to its moons cemented her connection with Saturn. After Voyager had flown by Neptune and was nearing conclusion, she worked together with Carl Sagan in planning Voyager’s celebrated Pale Blue Dot picture of Earth.

Her ongoing work at the Cassini Imaging Central Laboratory for Operations (CICLOPs) has two goals: to process, interpret and archive Cassini’s images for other scientists, and to make sure the images -- in all their breathtaking poetry and mystery and sheer Save-Image-As-Desktop awesomeness -- connect with the general public. She is an advocate for the exploration and understanding of planetary space, and her frequent talks (as well as her "Captain's Log" memos on the CICLOPS website) speak to everyone, scientist and nonscientist alike. Her advocacy extends to Hollywood, where she was the character consultant on the 1997 movie “Contact,” and a consultant on the 2009 Paramount Pictures re-boot of “Star Trek.” In 2012, she was named one the 25 most influential people in space by TIME magazine.

Finally, in a twist on the Pale Blue Dot theme, it was she who conceived the idea to invite the people of the world to smile while Cassini imaged the Earth on July 19, 2013 in an event called “The Day the Earth Smiled.”

For more information: 

Solar System Portrait: Earth as 'Pale Blue Dot'

BBC: Saturn snapped as Earth smiled

The Atlantic: The Carl Sagan of Our Time Reprises the 'Pale Blue Dot' Photo of Earth

The Day the Earth Smiled: Image

Library of Congress: Portraits of the Solar System: Talking with Carolyn Porco About Carl Sagan  

More profile about the speaker
Carolyn Porco | Speaker | TED.com
TED2009

Carolyn Porco: Could a Saturn moon harbor life?

Carolyn Porco: A fshihet jetë në një hënë te Saturnit?

Filmed:
1,054,733 views

Carolyn Porco tregon gjetje të reja interesante nga udhëtimet e fundit të anijes kozmike Cassini në një nga hënat e Saturnit, Enceladus. Mostrat e mbledhura nga gejzerët e akullt të hënës japin shenja se një oqean nën sipërfaqen e saj mund të strehojë jetë.
- Planetary scientist
As the leader of the Imaging Team on the Cassini mission to Saturn, Carolyn Porco interprets and shares the pictures coming back from this fascinating planet, its rings and its moons. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:18
Two years ago here at TED
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Dy vjet më parë këtu në TED
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I reported that we had discovered
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unë tregova se kishim zbuluar
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at Saturn, with the Cassini Spacecraft,
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me anijen kozmike Cassini, ne Saturn,
00:25
an anomalously warm and geologically active region
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një regjion çuditërisht të ngrohtë dhe gjeologjikisht aktiv
00:28
at the southern tip of the small Saturnine moon
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në cepin jugor të hënës së vogël të Saturnit
00:31
Enceladus, seen here.
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Enceladus, të parë këtu.
00:33
This region seen here for the first time
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Ky regjion i parë këtu për herë të parë
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in the Cassini image taken in 2005. This is the south polar region,
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në imazhin e marrë nga Cassini në 2005. Ky është regjioni jugor polar,
00:40
with the famous tiger-stripe fractures crossing the south pole.
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me çarjet vija-tigri të famshme që kryqëzon Polin e Jugut.
00:43
And seen just recently in late 2008,
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Dhe i parë së fundi vonë në 2008,
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here is that region again,
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ja ku është ai regjion përsëri,
00:49
now half in darkness because the southern hemisphere
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tani gjysmë në errësirë sepse hemisfera jugore
00:52
is experiencing the onset of August
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është duke përjetuar fillimin e gushtit
00:55
and eventually winter.
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dhe eventualisht dimrin.
00:57
And I also reported that we'd made this mind-blowing discovery --
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Dhe unë gjithashtu raportova se e kishim bërë një zbulim të hatashëm,
01:00
this once-in-a-lifetime discovery
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një zbulim që bëhet një herë në jetë
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of towering jets
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i rrymave të tmerrshme
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erupting from those fractures at the south pole,
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duke shpërthyer nga ato çarje në polin e jugut,
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consisting of tiny water ice crystals
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që përmbajnë kristale të vogla akulli
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accompanied by water vapor
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të shoqëruara nga avulli
01:12
and simple organic compounds like carbon dioxide and methane.
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dhe përbërje të thjeshta organike si dioksidi i karbonit dhe metani.
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And at that time two years ago
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Dhe në atë kohë para dy vjetësh
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I mentioned that we were speculating
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unë përmenda se ishim duke menduar
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that these jets might in fact be geysers,
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që këto rryma mund të ishin në fakt gejzerë,
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and erupting from pockets
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duke shpërthyer nga gropat
01:24
or chambers of liquid water underneath the surface,
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apo hapësirat me ujë të lëngshëm nën sipërfaqe,
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but we weren't really sure.
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por nuk ishim shumë të sigurtë.
01:28
However, the implications of those results --
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Gjithsesi, nënkuptimet e atyre rezultateve --
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of a possible environment within this moon
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të një ambienti të mundur brenda kësaj hëne
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that could support prebiotic chemistry,
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që mund të mbështesë kiminë prebiotike,
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and perhaps life itself --
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dhe ndoshta vetë jetën --
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were so exciting that, in the intervening two years,
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ishin aq emocionuese sa, në dy vitet në vazhdim,
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we have focused more on Enceladus.
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ne jemi fokusuar më shumë në Enceladus.
01:43
We've flown the Cassini Spacecraft
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Ne kemi fluturuar anijen kozmike Cassini
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by this moon now several times,
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afer kesaj hëne disa herë,
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flying closer and deeper into these jets,
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duke fluturuar më afër dhe më thellë në këto rryma,
01:51
into the denser regions of these jets,
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në regjionet më të dendura të këtyre rrymave,
01:53
so that now we have come away with some
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saqë tani kemi ardhur në disa
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very precise compositional measurements.
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matje kompozitore shumë të përpikta.
01:57
And we have found
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Dhe kemi zbuluar
01:59
that the organic compounds coming from this moon
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se përbërjet organike që që gjenden te kjo hënë
02:02
are in fact more complex than we previously reported.
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janë faktikisht më të ndërlikuara se sa kemi raportuar më parë.
02:05
While they're not amino acids,
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Ndërsa nuk janë amino acide,
02:07
we're now finding things like
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tani ne po zbulojmë gjëra si
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propane and benzene,
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propan dhe benzen,
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hydrogen cyanide, and formaldehyde.
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acid cianhidric dhe formaldehyde.
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And the tiny water crystals here
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Dhe kristalet e vogla të ujit këtu
02:16
now look for all the world
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tani duken
02:18
like they are frozen droplets of salty water,
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sikur janë pika të ngrira të ujit të kripur,
02:21
which is a discovery that suggests
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i cili është një zbulim që sugjeron
02:23
that not only do the jets come from
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se jo vetëm që këto rryma vijnë nga
02:25
pockets of liquid water,
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xhepa të ujit të lëngshëm,
02:27
but that that liquid water is in contact with rock.
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por dhe që ai ujë i lëngshëm është në kontakt me shkëmb.
02:30
And that is a circumstance
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Dhe kjo është një rrethanë
02:32
that could supply the chemical energy
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që do të mund të furnizonte energjinë kimike
02:34
and the chemical compounds needed to sustain life.
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dhe përbërjet kimike që duhen për të mbajtur jetë.
02:37
So we are very encouraged by these results.
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Kështu që jemi shumë të inkurajuar nga këto rezultate.
02:40
And we are much more confident now than we were two years ago
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Jemi shumë më të sigurt tani sesa ishim dy vjet më parë
02:43
that we might indeed
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që ne me të vërtetë
02:45
have on this moon, under the south pole,
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mund të kemi në këtë hënë, nën polit të jugut,
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an environment or a zone that is hospitable to living organisms.
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një ambient ose një zonë që është mikpritëse për organizmat e gjallë.
02:52
Whether or not there are living organisms there, of course,
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Ka apo nuk ka organizma të gjallë atje, sigurisht,
02:55
is an entirely different matter.
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është një çështje krejtësisht e ndryshme.
02:57
And that will have to await the arrival,
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Dhe që ne do të duhet të presim arritjen,
02:59
back at Enceladus,
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atje në Enceladus,
03:02
of the spacecrafts, hopefully some time in the near future,
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të anijeve kozmike, me shpresë se ndonjë ditë në një të ardhme të afërt,
03:05
specifically equipped to address that particular question.
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të pajisura veçanërisht për të drejtuar këtë pyetje të posaçme.
03:09
But in the meantime I invite you to imagine the day
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Por ndërkohë unë ju ftoj të imagjinoni ditën
03:12
when we might journey to the Saturnine system,
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kur ne mund të udhëtojmë në sistemin e Saturnit,
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and visit the Enceladus interplanetary geyser park,
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dhe të vizitojmë parkun ndërplanetar të gejzerëve në Encaladus,
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just because we can.
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thjesht sepse mundemi.
03:21
Thank you.
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Faleminderit.
03:23
(Applause)
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(Duartrokitje)
Translated by Diamant Hasani
Reviewed by Helena Bedalli

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Carolyn Porco - Planetary scientist
As the leader of the Imaging Team on the Cassini mission to Saturn, Carolyn Porco interprets and shares the pictures coming back from this fascinating planet, its rings and its moons.

Why you should listen

Planetary scientist Carolyn Porco studies and interprets the photos from NASA space missions like the renowned Voyager mission to the outer solar system in the 1980s and the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn. She leads a team of scientists from the US and Europe that has been analyzing the images Cassini has sent back since it left Earth in 1997. At Saturn, they have found new phenomena everywhere they've turned their cameras … in the planet’s atmosphere, within its rings and on the surfaces of its many moons. And they've produced spectacular images and animations of these marvels in the process.

Back in the early-1980s, while still working on her doctorate, Porco was drafted onto the Voyager imaging team to assist in crunching the mountains of data coming back from Voyager’s fly-by of Saturn. Her work on the planet's rings and their relation to its moons cemented her connection with Saturn. After Voyager had flown by Neptune and was nearing conclusion, she worked together with Carl Sagan in planning Voyager’s celebrated Pale Blue Dot picture of Earth.

Her ongoing work at the Cassini Imaging Central Laboratory for Operations (CICLOPs) has two goals: to process, interpret and archive Cassini’s images for other scientists, and to make sure the images -- in all their breathtaking poetry and mystery and sheer Save-Image-As-Desktop awesomeness -- connect with the general public. She is an advocate for the exploration and understanding of planetary space, and her frequent talks (as well as her "Captain's Log" memos on the CICLOPS website) speak to everyone, scientist and nonscientist alike. Her advocacy extends to Hollywood, where she was the character consultant on the 1997 movie “Contact,” and a consultant on the 2009 Paramount Pictures re-boot of “Star Trek.” In 2012, she was named one the 25 most influential people in space by TIME magazine.

Finally, in a twist on the Pale Blue Dot theme, it was she who conceived the idea to invite the people of the world to smile while Cassini imaged the Earth on July 19, 2013 in an event called “The Day the Earth Smiled.”

For more information: 

Solar System Portrait: Earth as 'Pale Blue Dot'

BBC: Saturn snapped as Earth smiled

The Atlantic: The Carl Sagan of Our Time Reprises the 'Pale Blue Dot' Photo of Earth

The Day the Earth Smiled: Image

Library of Congress: Portraits of the Solar System: Talking with Carolyn Porco About Carl Sagan  

More profile about the speaker
Carolyn Porco | Speaker | TED.com