Talk:Exploration of Io

Comments by Cryptic C62

 * "Based on ephemerides produced by astronomer Giovanni Cassini and others, Pierre-Simon Laplace created a mathematical theory to explain the resonant orbits of Io, Europa, and Ganymede." What is a resonant orbit? The fact that the next sentence also deals with resonance means that it definitely needs to be clarified or reworded.
 * I have added a wikilink in the lead - the facts are explained in more detail in the body text, which i have also tried to imrove a little. hamiltonstone (talk) 22:58, 24 March 2010 (UTC)


 * "In order to study the Jovian satellite in better detail and over a longer period of time," This implies that the sole purpose for Galileo was to observe Io, which isn't true.
 * redid lead para to reflect this. hamiltonstone (talk) 23:06, 24 March 2010 (UTC)


 * "NASA launched the Galileo spacecraft in 1989, which entered orbit in December 1995 following the first close flyby of Io by an unmanned spacecraft." Two problems: First, what did Galileo orbit? I assume it's either Jupiter or Io. Second, everything after "December 1995" is confusing. What happened to the Pioneers and Voyagers? Don't they qualify as close flybys? Regardless, it seems to me that too much information is being crammed into this one sentence. I suggest deleting everything after "December 1995".
 * I agreed with your concerns and have edited consistent with your suggestion. hamiltonstone (talk) 23:01, 24 March 2010 (UTC)


 * "Galileo orbited Jupiter until crashing into the giant planet in September 2003. In between, ..." Awkward chronology and phrasing. Suggest moving moving the first sentence to the end of the paragraph and then rewriting the second sentence as necessary.
 * redid lead para to reflect this. hamiltonstone (talk) 23:06, 24 March 2010 (UTC)

Here are some comments on the article's prose. Please to respond to the concerns individually to clarify which are done and which need further discussion.


 * "Improved telescope technology in the late 19th and 20th centuries allowed astronomers to resolve (that is, see)" I strongly disagree with the inclusion of this parenthetical comment, as it is an awkward intrusion to the sentence. The linked article (optical resolution) adequately explains the rather intuitive meaning of the term within the first sentence.
 * I am a tad confused by the fact that the last sentence of the first paragraph in the lead deals with the 60s, whereas the first sentence of the next paragraph deals with the 50s. The former seems to be a somewhat trivial (and vague) bit for the lead, so why not remove it to preserve the timeline?
 * "is on their short list of large-scale missions" The juxtaposition of "short" and "large" here is somewhat confusing. Suggest rewriting to "one of their large-scale missions" or "one of several large-scale missions".
 * "During his observation of Jupiter on the evening of January 7, Galileo spotted two stars to the east of Jupiter and another one to the west" ...but they're not actually stars. Suggest inserting "what he believed to be" before "two stars".
 * "Jupiter and these three stars appeared to be in a line parallel to the ecliptic." "In a line" implies that you're waiting to get your license renewed at the Department of Motor Vehicles. The more correct mathematical phrase would be "on a line". Agreed?
 * "Galileo's telescope, while having a high magnification for a telescope from his time, was too low-powered to separate the two moons into distinct points of light." My limited understanding of optics tells me that optical resolution and magnification are two distinct properties of telescopes. If the telescope was unable to resolve the two moons into distinct points, it was because of the resolving power, not the magnifying power.
 * "Galileo observed Jupiter the next evening, January 8, 1610, this time seeing three stars to the west of Jupiter, suggesting that Jupiter had moved to the west of the three stars." This sentence does not make sense. If the three stars were to the west of Jupiter, wouldn't it be more correct to say that Jupiter had moved to the east of the stars?
 * "This was the first time that Io and Europa were observed and recorded as distinct points of light so this date, January 8, 1610 is used as the discovery date for the two moons by the International Astronomical Union." Awkwardly long sentence and informal use of "so". Suggest breaking it up with a comma and rewording.
 * "These were the first moons of a planet other than the Earth to be discovered." Citation needed, big time.

More to come. --Cryptic C62 · Talk 22:43, 24 March 2010 (UTC)


 * If anyone would like to continue working through this review, please leave a note on my talk page. --Cryptic C62 · Talk 15:05, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

Missed Opportunity
Didn't Pioneer 10 have radiation-related problems during it's encounter with Io that prevented better images? This is worth mentioning in my opinion. --2605:E000:8643:9B00:C991:BFC5:4B0F:CF6A (talk) 05:52, 6 March 2015 (UTC)
 * This is mentioned in the article: "Close-up images using Pioneer's Imaging Photopolarimeter were planned as well, but were lost because of the high-radiation environment.[34]" --Volcanopele (talk) 20:25, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
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I have just modified 2 external links on Exploration of Io. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090320215132/http://opfm.jpl.nasa.gov/files/JEO-Rpt_Public-Release_090203.pdf to http://opfm.jpl.nasa.gov/files/JEO-Rpt_Public-Release_090203.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20051220010647/http://hsci.cas.ou.edu/images/barker/5990/Sidereus-Nuncius-whole.pdf to http://hsci.cas.ou.edu/images/barker/5990/Sidereus-Nuncius-whole.pdf

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External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Exploration of Io. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090208103112/http://home.comcast.net/~erniew/astro/sidnunj.html to http://home.comcast.net/~erniew/astro/sidnunj.html

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Handwritten note removal
In the Discovery section, there is a figure showing a handwritten note from Galileo with his initial drawings of the positions of Jupiter's four major satellites. In 2022, this was shown to be a 20th century forgery per The NY Times link below and I have removed the figure.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/17/arts/galileo-forgery-university-of-michigan.html Volcanopele (talk) 20:33, 18 August 2022 (UTC)