Mars for me. The gas giants are too m/f scary and all the rest are too hot or cold. I find Mars quite haunting in the respect that all the signs are that it was quite like our planet until it's core cooled down and the solar winds stripped it clean.
― xelab, Sunday, 30 March 2014 02:10 (ten years ago) link
I'm going with Mercury. Mercury is hardcore.
― jmm, Sunday, 30 March 2014 02:11 (ten years ago) link
my brain quickly turned this into a sailor moon thing and now i can't dissociate
― linda cardellini (zachlyon), Sunday, 30 March 2014 02:21 (ten years ago) link
WTF happened to Venus? Sat there in the habitual zone with a m/f atmosphere like that.
― xelab, Sunday, 30 March 2014 02:21 (ten years ago) link
i think this is saturn or mars for me but it's close
― call all destroyer, Sunday, 30 March 2014 02:32 (ten years ago) link
Is the asteroid belt the remains of a planet that got murked by some giant bolide impact?
― xelab, Sunday, 30 March 2014 02:43 (ten years ago) link
more like planets that never fully formed.
The asteroid belt formed from the primordial solar nebula as a group of planetesimals, the smaller precursors of the planets, which in turn formed protoplanets. Between Mars and Jupiter, however, gravitational perturbations from Jupiter imbued the protoplanets with too much orbital energy for them to accrete into a planet. Collisions became too violent, and instead of fusing together, the planetesimals and most of the protoplanets shattered.
― fit and working again, Sunday, 30 March 2014 02:54 (ten years ago) link
I <3 Earth, so I voted for the most earthlike: Mars. It's the red planet! How cool is that?
― I wear the fucking pin, don't I? (Aimless), Sunday, 30 March 2014 02:56 (ten years ago) link
Pluto is a KBO, there's no scientific reason to include it.
― dan m, Sunday, 30 March 2014 02:58 (ten years ago) link
http://fisica.cab.cnea.gov.ar/estadistica/abramson/celestia/gallery/slides/Io-Jupiter.jpg vs. http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0901/newrings_cassini_big.jpg for me.
― Congratulations! And my condolences. (Sanpaku), Sunday, 30 March 2014 03:29 (ten years ago) link
hehehehehehe
― j., Sunday, 30 March 2014 03:32 (ten years ago) link
http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/jonesingjay/12452594/518386/518386_600.jpg
― difficult listening hour, Sunday, 30 March 2014 03:38 (ten years ago) link
jupiter is most terrifying/fascinating.
― ryan, Sunday, 30 March 2014 03:38 (ten years ago) link
not only massive volcanic moons but an ancient everlasting storm that is 2-3 times the size of EARTH.
― ryan, Sunday, 30 March 2014 03:39 (ten years ago) link
jupiter
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 30 March 2014 03:39 (ten years ago) link
thinking about Neptune. pretty dope planet.
In contrast to the hazy, relatively featureless atmosphere of Uranus, Neptune's atmosphere is notable for its active and visible weather patterns. For example, at the time of the 1989 Voyager 2 flyby, the planet's southern hemisphere possessed a Great Dark Spot comparable to the Great Red Spot on Jupiter. These weather patterns are driven by the strongest sustained winds of any planet in the Solar System, with recorded wind speeds as high as 2,100 kilometres per hour (1,300 mph).
orbits the sun once every 165 years.
bonus points for 'event horizon'.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/06/Neptune.jpg/609px-Neptune.jpg
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Sunday, 30 March 2014 04:09 (ten years ago) link
― dan m, Saturday, March 29, 2014 7:58 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
http://www.wombania.com/wombie_images/believe-in-pluto-b.jpg
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Sunday, 30 March 2014 04:13 (ten years ago) link
In lieu of the Moon, Neptune.
― Eric H., Sunday, 30 March 2014 04:45 (ten years ago) link
i think my brain has still not really wrapped itself around the concept of a giant planet made of gas. i cannot actually imagine what the surface is like!
neptune's moons >>> jupiter's moons iirc?
venus, anyway. its pure deadliness seems above and beyond the call of duty
― lex pretend, Sunday, 30 March 2014 06:57 (ten years ago) link
pluto can do one. YOU ORBIT YOUR OWN MOON. waste!
All the planets are cool, but my heart says Neptune.
― Johnny Fever, Sunday, 30 March 2014 07:04 (ten years ago) link
hardest poll
― mookieproof, Sunday, 30 March 2014 07:50 (ten years ago) link
i voted saturn cuz it's the system's most-decorated but venus is my #2 for bradbury's "the long rain" alone
― difficult listening hour, Sunday, 30 March 2014 08:10 (ten years ago) link
also chix
― difficult listening hour, Sunday, 30 March 2014 08:11 (ten years ago) link
saturn tho has titan with its sand dunes and lakes of utterly clear liquid methane
― difficult listening hour, Sunday, 30 March 2014 08:15 (ten years ago) link
people need to let Pluto go, it's still out there doing its thing, it doesn't have to pretend any more
voting Neptune because Holst also because it's Neptune
― invent viral babe (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 30 March 2014 08:15 (ten years ago) link
neptune has the prettiest name
― difficult listening hour, Sunday, 30 March 2014 08:16 (ten years ago) link
Jupiter is obv
Pluto obv not
― fauxpas cola (darraghmac), Sunday, 30 March 2014 09:00 (ten years ago) link
http://wanderingspace.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/c_venera_perspective_colorbthumbnail.jpg
― めんどくさい (Matt #2), Sunday, 30 March 2014 10:06 (ten years ago) link
Voted Mercury because there probably isn't any mercury on Mercury.(otoh, there isn't a Mars bar on Mars either, probably)
― StanM, Sunday, 30 March 2014 10:17 (ten years ago) link
sad about the lack of love being displayed on this thread for Uranus, most underrated planet imo
― soref, Sunday, 30 March 2014 10:45 (ten years ago) link
Near the time of Uranian solstices, one pole faces the Sun continuously whereas the other one faces away. Only a narrow strip around the equator experiences a rapid day–night cycle, but with the Sun very low over the horizon as in the Earth's polar regions. At the other side of Uranus's orbit the orientation of the poles towards the Sun is reversed. Each pole gets around 42 years of continuous sunlight, followed by 42 years of darkness.
― soref, Sunday, 30 March 2014 10:48 (ten years ago) link
the full range of the possible, even just within an 8 (or 9) planet solar system is just so extreme that you can only vacillate between awe and terror when you contemplate it.
― ryan, Sunday, 30 March 2014 14:37 (ten years ago) link
heheheheh you said uranian
― j., Sunday, 30 March 2014 14:38 (ten years ago) link
oh wait
http://images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/28100000/Beavis-Butthead-beavis-and-butthead-28198911-450-495.jpg
runner up is Saturn bcz Titan, also Saturn has the hula hoop, it was hard not to pick it tbh
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 30 March 2014 17:03 (ten years ago) link
Titan is in many ways a lot more interesting than some of the planets.
― xelab, Sunday, 30 March 2014 17:11 (ten years ago) link
Awesome poll. As a kid I would have said Saturn easy - fucking rings! - but ryan is right, all of them are so fucking strange and, yeah, 'alien,' that it seems impossible that we're part of the same set, but I'm sure the Venusians would say that about us too. I'm leaving the moons out of the equation because a lot of them would swing it on awesome names alone, let alone bizarre physical properties, and it makes it too hard.
Venus a strong contender for "so close...and yet so far" (so much that we send everything to Mars even though Venus is closer!). Mercury a blazing badass that flew too close to the sun. Pluto* for spooky cold silent distance, a place to simply sit on a desolate rock and watch from like the Little Prince's planet. Stoked that New Horizons is going to finally arrive next year and we'll get good pictures and stuff. Neptune for color, as well as craziness. But I think this really comes down to Saturn and Jupiter, which are both so fucking bizarre and sublime in scale and properties that if they weren't in our solar system you'd figure they were invented by Jules Verne. The tiebreaker was simple:
http://i459.photobucket.com/albums/qq313/doctorcasino/makoa_zpsc4d245be.jpg
― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 30 March 2014 17:41 (ten years ago) link
these planets make me recognize the sheer unlikelihood of any single one of us being alive, let alone this planet being habitable, let alone existing. all of these other planets are like nightmarishly beautiful dionaea plants.
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Sunday, 30 March 2014 17:48 (ten years ago) link
they don't have surfaces, so to speak! their massive gravity warps a core of helium into a metallic state that generates a massive magnetic field, protecting the gaseous atmosphere, but there's no rocky core in the middle as there is with the inner four planets.
― Clay, Sunday, 30 March 2014 18:05 (ten years ago) link
anyways would vote for saturn based on insane qualities of its moons, because seriously saturn's moons are way crazy, but i've been having recurring nightmares about jupiter since i was a kid so i figure it wins on the terror scale.
― Clay, Sunday, 30 March 2014 18:07 (ten years ago) link
Fascinated by the mechanics of a gaseous planet and its satellites.
― Eric H., Sunday, 30 March 2014 18:16 (ten years ago) link
Another reason I voted for Neptune, having a moon as massive as Triton.
http://sites.psu.edu/tgg119/wp-content/uploads/sites/661/2013/02/pluto.jpg
― Elvis Telecom, Sunday, 30 March 2014 18:30 (ten years ago) link
xp Huh? Triton ain't all that, it is slightly smaller than our moon.
― xelab, Sunday, 30 March 2014 18:36 (ten years ago) link
― ryan,
otm
― Bryan Fairy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 30 March 2014 18:36 (ten years ago) link
☆ミOlympus Mons is 14 mile high dormant shield volcano on Mars with a base the size of France☆ミ
http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a002800/a002883/olympus_mons_false_web.jpg
― xelab, Sunday, 30 March 2014 18:45 (ten years ago) link
I can remember National Geographic in the very early eighties publishing the first astonishing color photos of the outer planets as we got the Voyager images.
― Bryan Fairy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 30 March 2014 18:45 (ten years ago) link
Olympus Mons dwarfing Everest.http://martianchronicles.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/olympus-mons.jpg
― xelab, Sunday, 30 March 2014 18:49 (ten years ago) link
/i think my brain has still not really wrapped itself around the concept of a giant planet made of gas. i cannot actually imagine what the surface is like!/they don't have surfaces, so to speak! their massive gravity warps a core of helium into a metallic state that generates a massive magnetic field, protecting the gaseous atmosphere, but there's no rocky core in the middle as there is with the inner four planets.
― Bristol Stomper's Breakout (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 30 March 2014 18:52 (ten years ago) link
I don't know, I think a higher mark would always have been a bit of a stretch for Uranus
― soref, Friday, 25 April 2014 19:02 (ten years ago) link
it's the jan brady of the solar system
― mattresslessness, Friday, 25 April 2014 19:03 (ten years ago) link
Uranus is like a black hole.
― Cronk's Not Cronk (Eric H.), Friday, 25 April 2014 19:22 (ten years ago) link
I just would really have liked it if Uranus supporters had shown up an wrecked 'em.
― bi-polar uncle (its OK-he's dead) (Phil D.), Friday, 25 April 2014 19:27 (ten years ago) link
I think we should give this a rest if lex finds jokes about Uranus distasteful.
― Call the Doctorb, the B is for Brownstein (Leee), Friday, 25 April 2014 19:33 (ten years ago) link
that's the thing about uranus jokes, you think they're worn out but just give them a while and they come back around
― j., Friday, 25 April 2014 19:38 (ten years ago) link
Uranus is cyclical.
― Cronk's Not Cronk (Eric H.), Friday, 25 April 2014 19:47 (ten years ago) link
All the same, I think we should bend over backwards so that sensitivities about Uranus don't flare up.
― Call the Doctorb, the B is for Brownstein (Leee), Friday, 25 April 2014 19:59 (ten years ago) link
Only one spacecraft in the history of spaceflight has ever made a close approach to Uranus. NASA’s Voyager 2 zipped pass Uranus in January, 1986, coming within 81,000 km of the surface of Uranus. It took thousands of photographs of Uranus and its moons, and then sped off onto towards its next target: Neptune. No other spacecraft have ever been sent towards Uranus, and there are no plans to send any more.
― fit and working again, Friday, 25 April 2014 20:18 (ten years ago) link
I was trying to picture ilx minus all the things that annoy lex and it made me lol
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 25 April 2014 20:19 (ten years ago) link
ilx minus other people you mean
― How dare you tarnish the reputation of Turturro's yodel (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 25 April 2014 20:22 (ten years ago) link
Haha, "Urine us"!
― Sir Lord Baltimora (Myonga Vön Bontee), Friday, 25 April 2014 21:10 (ten years ago) link
NASA’s Voyager 2 zipped pass Uranus in January, 1986, coming within 81,000 km of the surface of Uranus.
We went to my grandparents' for a visit and Granddad was watching a cable channel showing nothing but that footage. Just a big white sphere with some stats updating on the side. I sat down next to him and watched it with him for awhile. Honestly, it was a little like that Young Ones where they watch the dot for awhile.
― pplains, Friday, 25 April 2014 23:33 (ten years ago) link
You know what else is funny?
YOUR ANUS.
― Fiddler on a hot tin roof (ed.b), Saturday, 26 April 2014 01:03 (ten years ago) link
that's not funny.
― j., Saturday, 26 April 2014 01:13 (ten years ago) link
http://theconversation.com/jupiters-great-red-spot-could-disappear-in-a-generation-26798
― ornamental cabbage (James Morrison), Friday, 16 May 2014 04:42 (ten years ago) link
https://62e528761d0685343e1c-f3d1b99a743ffa4142d9d7f1978d9686.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/files/48655/width668/7mffnqb7-1400203086.jpg
― ornamental cabbage (James Morrison), Friday, 16 May 2014 04:43 (ten years ago) link
Love this Neptune composite on APOD yesterday
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1405/Neptune-South-Pole-Voyager-2_950x682.jpg
― Elvis Telecom, Friday, 16 May 2014 05:10 (ten years ago) link
I find it incredible that in the 70's/80's the Soviets managed to engineer a probe with a camera that can withstand the heat and atmospheric pressure of Venus. I know the Mars rovers have done an amazing job beyond expectations, but the surface of Venus ffs ? This is a bit old and some of the images are frustratingly small, but it is worth checking out.http://mentallandscape.com/C_CatalogVenus.htm
http://mentallandscape.com/C_Venera_Perspective.jpg
― xelab, Sunday, 18 May 2014 20:10 (ten years ago) link
The theory that we already had a smaller moon from a giant bolide impact prior to the Thea collision, excellent article.http://nautil.us/issue/13/symmetry/when-the-earth-had-two-moons
― xelab, Thursday, 29 May 2014 15:15 (ten years ago) link
https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/t1.0-9/10365727_849471851740494_6117098277333421237_n.png
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 10 June 2014 22:57 (nine years ago) link
http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2014/06/02/stuff-you-dont-know-about-venus/
4. Difference in temperature between day and night on Venus: 0 degrees.5. Difference in temperature between the planet’s equator and poles: 0 degrees.6. Reason for #4 and #5: That enormously thick, carbon dioxide atmosphere redistributes heat very efficiently. In other words, if you’re on Venus and you need to cool off, your best bet is to go up. Roughly 30 miles up, where the pressure and temperature finally relax and become something Earth-like (see #8).[...]8. That doesn’t mean the planet is necessarily lifeless. It’s possible that organisms could live in those acid clouds, which contain water, energy, and nutrients.
5. Difference in temperature between the planet’s equator and poles: 0 degrees.
6. Reason for #4 and #5: That enormously thick, carbon dioxide atmosphere redistributes heat very efficiently. In other words, if you’re on Venus and you need to cool off, your best bet is to go up. Roughly 30 miles up, where the pressure and temperature finally relax and become something Earth-like (see #8).
[...]
8. That doesn’t mean the planet is necessarily lifeless. It’s possible that organisms could live in those acid clouds, which contain water, energy, and nutrients.
― Call the Doctorb, the B is for Brownstein (Leee), Tuesday, 8 July 2014 16:33 (nine years ago) link
Distant Uranus Sees A Storm Surge Of ‘Monstrous’ Proportions
http://www.keckobservatory.org/images/made/images/blog/Uranus_Aug20141_800_407.jpg
― Elvis Telecom, Tuesday, 12 August 2014 08:26 (nine years ago) link
http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/02/tech/innovation/is-pluto-a-planet/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
― LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Friday, 3 October 2014 00:40 (nine years ago) link
Recently read about that technicality. I believe in the case of the earlier vote there had been an original subcommittee featuring the likes of Dava Sobel and Owen Gingerich that drew up guidelines under which Pluto was a planet, but then the rubbish-clearing, broom-clean clause was added, driving Pluto out with a flaming sword.
― The "5" Astronomer Royales (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 3 October 2014 01:06 (nine years ago) link
This is the dopest thing I have seen today, wow!http://www.nasa.gov/press/2014/october/close-encounters-comet-siding-spring-seen-next-to-mars/
― xelab, Friday, 24 October 2014 00:46 (nine years ago) link
Siding Spring, officially designated Comet C/2013 A1, made its closest approach to Mars at 2:28 p.m. EDT on Oct. 19, at a distance of approximately 87,000 miles. That is about one-third of the distance between Earth and the moon
fuck me that is close, can't wait to see the rover pics if there are any.
― xelab, Friday, 24 October 2014 00:52 (nine years ago) link
It must be true
http://gizmodo.com/uranus-smells-like-farts-1793765256
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 29 March 2017 16:06 (seven years ago) link
likely story
but its a bit of a little miracle bc ive been in below zero weather and the greatest thing about it is that you can let one go and the odour immediately disappears after being released
― i n f i n i t y (∞), Wednesday, 29 March 2017 17:27 (seven years ago) link
one of lifes greatest joys tbh
https://theconcourse.deadspin.com/planets-ranked-1818586375
Uranus the most unloved of gas giants here too.
― nomar, Wednesday, 20 September 2017 19:54 (six years ago) link
All gas giants are overrated.
― Jeff, Wednesday, 20 September 2017 20:15 (six years ago) link
1. Earth
Oh big surprise, coming from an Earth-based website.
― jmm, Wednesday, 20 September 2017 20:19 (six years ago) link
If I can’t set foot on you, fuck you planet.
― Jeff, Wednesday, 20 September 2017 20:34 (six years ago) link
Disregarding melting or freezing to death.
― Jeff, Wednesday, 20 September 2017 20:35 (six years ago) link
https://www.universetoday.com/137252/surface-ice-mercury-previously-thought-says-new-study/
I can't remember if anyone mentioned on here that Mercury’s low axial tilt means permanently shaded regions and the presence of ice! But I'm astonished.
― calzino, Saturday, 23 September 2017 10:36 (six years ago) link
I would have voted for Pluto as the underdog; freezing, isolated on the periphery, with people arguing whether it even counts or not
― ultros ultros-ghali, Saturday, 23 September 2017 10:47 (six years ago) link
I think those cold regions of Mercury would be fitting sites for the first extraplanetary gulags. Russians used to refer to Siberia as "the moon", forget the moon pal, you're going to the frozen lake next to the inferno!
― calzino, Saturday, 23 September 2017 11:06 (six years ago) link
PBS' NOVA just ran a five-part series on the planets that's worth your time. Zachary Quinto's narration gets ASMR narcoleptic but it's a great summary of where things are at. If you only watch one, go for the one on Jupiter.https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/series/planets/
― Elvis Telecom, Saturday, 3 August 2019 19:36 (four years ago) link
i wonder if its using the same shots or similar as brian cox's recent effort
watch both obv
― phil neville jacket (darraghmac), Sunday, 4 August 2019 23:15 (four years ago) link
counterpoint: don't watch the one with Cox and watch the other one instead.
― calzino, Monday, 5 August 2019 00:15 (four years ago) link
Drink once whenever you see clumps of proto solar system material collide into each other. Drink twice if it's enough to form a planet.
― Elvis Telecom, Monday, 5 August 2019 02:00 (four years ago) link
chug extinction level event
― phil neville jacket (darraghmac), Monday, 5 August 2019 02:12 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eJM0WlEjTs
― jmm, Monday, 16 September 2019 13:57 (four years ago) link
I saw Saturn through a really big telescope last week, and now Saturn is my favourite.
― jmm, Monday, 16 September 2019 14:00 (four years ago) link