The other planets in the solar system POLL

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fuck it, pluto's in.

Poll Results

OptionVotes
Saturn 22
Neptune 21
Jupiter 20
Mars 13
Venus 12
Pluto 9
Uranus 8
Mercury 3


christmas candy bar (al leong), Sunday, 30 March 2014 01:57 (ten years ago) link

Hehehe, "uranus".

emil.y, Sunday, 30 March 2014 01:57 (ten years ago) link

Jupiter, which'll prob walk this right?

sonic thedgehod (albvivertine), Sunday, 30 March 2014 01:58 (ten years ago) link

Fuck a gas giant.

Jeff, Sunday, 30 March 2014 02:02 (ten years ago) link

But a vote for Jupiter is a vote for Jupiter's moons, vote Jupiter

sonic thedgehod (albvivertine), Sunday, 30 March 2014 02:08 (ten years ago) link

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

hehehehehehe

j., Sunday, 30 March 2014 03:32 (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

Pluto is a KBO, there's no scientific reason to include it.

― 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!

lex pretend, Sunday, 30 March 2014 06:57 (ten years ago) link

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

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

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

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.

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.

Eric H., Sunday, 30 March 2014 18:16 (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

nah people will probably just be assholes about it

bi-polar uncle (its OK-he's dead) (Phil D.), Friday, 25 April 2014 18:55 (nine years ago) link

heee

set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 25 April 2014 18:56 (nine years ago) link

it is kind of a shitty poll idea

set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 25 April 2014 18:56 (nine years ago) link

i'm beginning to think that uranus' poor showing has a lot to do with us still not knowing much about it, it's got a pretty placid and some might say bland surface despite those epic rings (which are still not near saturn's). i think we're all a little curious about exploring it further, we can admit that much, so we try again and send a probe into it.

christmas candy bar (al leong), Friday, 25 April 2014 18:58 (nine years ago) link

otoh some ice giants might just be "crappier" than others (uranus)

mattresslessness, Friday, 25 April 2014 19:02 (nine 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 (nine years ago) link

it's the jan brady of the solar system

mattresslessness, Friday, 25 April 2014 19:03 (nine years ago) link

Uranus is like a black hole.

Cronk's Not Cronk (Eric H.), Friday, 25 April 2014 19:22 (nine 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 (nine 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 (nine 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 (nine years ago) link

Uranus is cyclical.

Cronk's Not Cronk (Eric H.), Friday, 25 April 2014 19:47 (nine 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 (nine 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 (nine 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 (nine years ago) link

ilx minus other people you mean

Haha, "Urine us"!

Sir Lord Baltimora (Myonga Vön Bontee), Friday, 25 April 2014 21:10 (nine 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 (nine 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 (nine years ago) link

that's not funny.

j., Saturday, 26 April 2014 01:13 (nine years ago) link

two weeks pass...

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 (nine 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 (nine 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 (nine years ago) link

four weeks pass...

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.

Call the Doctorb, the B is for Brownstein (Leee), Tuesday, 8 July 2014 16:33 (nine years ago) link

one month passes...
one month passes...

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

three weeks pass...

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

two years pass...

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

i n f i n i t y (∞), Wednesday, 29 March 2017 17:27 (seven years ago) link

five months pass...

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

one year passes...

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

one month passes...

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


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