• Question: What is your favourite planet?

    Asked by LizaE on 5 Nov 2020. This question was also asked by LaylaMaeM.
    • Photo: Tris Warren

      Tris Warren answered on 5 Nov 2020:

      Mars! – I might be slightly biased because I have helped build something that is now working on Mars…. Titan (although strictly not a Planet – It’s a Moon of Saturn) is also very cool. Its got a thick atmosphere that looks dusty orange from the outside – it also has clear evidence of liquid at the surface. DragonFly is a NASA mission that will go to Titan to look for signs of life. Thats a very cool mission because its a quadcopter design that will fly around on Titan.

    • Photo: Sam Frampton

      Sam Frampton answered on 5 Nov 2020:

      I like it here on Earth! But if I had to pick a second favourite I would say Uranus, because we still don’t really know what it’s made out of, and it spins on its side!

    • Photo: Steve Williams

      Steve Williams answered on 5 Nov 2020:

      I think it has to be planet Earth as without it none of us would exist. It’s also a very lucky planet as just by pure chance it’s about the right size and the right distance away from it’s sun to support life.

      The distance we are away from the sun is often called “the goldilocks zone” as it not too hot or too cold this far out. It’s size or mass could be slightly larger or smaller and we would still be ok but life would have been forced to have evolved slightly differently. For example, if Earth was slightly more massive then gravity would be stronger so our skeletons would also have to be stronger to support our greater weight. Birds would find it harder to fly so would have to evolve more powerful wings and chest muscles. Earth is lucky in another way as it was delivered water from asteroids after it cooled down giving us oceans and the water we need to survive. Earth also has a magnet field around it protecting us from harmful radiation from the sun. Earth is our life support system so we need to take care of it.

    • Photo: Calum McInnes

      Calum McInnes answered on 5 Nov 2020:

      I would say Mars as it represents a goal that humanity is working towards. I find it inspiring to look at and think of all the people across the world who are working towards getting us there. Whenever I see Mars in the night sky I think of it as a goal for our society and a stepping stone to great things.

    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 5 Nov 2020: last edited 7 Nov 2020 9:55 am

      My favourite planet is Proxima Centauri b – it’s a planet located outside our solar system (an exoplanet). There are certain “Goldilocks zones” around stars where if planets exist, may provide the conditions necessary for life, for example may have liquid water. Proxima Centauri B is a planet located in the Goldilocks zone of the Proxima Centauri star – a star over 4 light years away from us! It’s my favourite because it lets my imagination run wild – we don’t know for sure whether it is habitable for life or not, but the fact that it is the closest planet to us (that we know of) that may have conditions most similar to Earth is really incredible.

    • Photo: Roy HAWORTH

      Roy HAWORTH answered on 6 Nov 2020:

      It has to be Saturn and if you want to see some beautiful images check out the Cassini mission that was in orbit from 2004 to 2017 https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/cassini/overview/

    • Photo: John Davies

      John Davies answered on 18 Nov 2020:

      Asteroid 9064 Johndavies because its named after me. 😉 I don’t really do favourites, but Pluto and the Kuiper belt has always been of great interest.

    • Photo: Zaria Serfontein

      Zaria Serfontein answered on 18 Nov 2020:

      Lots of great planets have already been listed, so I thought I’d add Venus to the list. It’s getting a lot of attention these days since scientists recently discovered a gas which suggests there could potentially be life on Venus! It’s also the hottest planet in the solar system even, though Mercury is closer to the Sun, it spins in the opposite direction to most of the other planets and it’s covered in a very thick atmosphere, meaning we can’t see the ground, making it a very mysterious planet!

    • Photo: raam shanker

      raam shanker answered on 19 Nov 2020:

      Earth, because home is where the heart is, no!

    • Photo: Abbie Hutty

      Abbie Hutty answered on 23 Nov 2020:

      Earth, of course! We have to prioritise our own planet and make sure that we look after it. It is so much better for humans to live on than all the other planets in our solar system, and I honestly don’t think we could ever mess it up enough to make it as inhospitable as even the best of the other planets!

      Of the other planets though, Mars is a soft spot for me, as my last two missions have been Mars missions and I’ve had to learn a lot about Mars to be able to effectively design things for that environment.

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