• Question: What is your favourite planet and why?

    Asked by Baileylee12 to Hannah, Lucy, Phil, rochellevelho, Stephen on 8 Mar 2017.
    • Photo: Lucy Kissick

      Lucy Kissick answered on 8 Mar 2017:

      Hello! I think I’ve already answered this one, here’s what I said before:

      My favourite planet right now is Pluto, because when NASA’s spacecraft flew past in 2015 everyone was so shocked and excited by what they found! Pluto should have been so cold and small that it was geologically dead, but its surface has glaciers, and mountains made of water ice, and a great frozen ocean of methane and nitrogen. To me the discovery showed how even our own solar system is still full of surprises — how weird and wonderful might other solar systems be?

      And yes, yes, Pluto isn’t technically a planet: it’s a ‘dwarf planet’ because of it’s odd orbit and other characteristics. But I think classifications lose meaning beyond a point — it’s certainly the least interesting fact about Pluto.

    • Photo: Phil Sutton

      Phil Sutton answered on 8 Mar 2017:

      I would go for Saturn as my favourite planet in the solar system. I find the rings fascinating and to be up close to this planet would be an incredible experience. For my research i use the rings to learn how the planets and moons might have formed so it is a great astrophysical laboratory.

      There are a few other planets around other stars that are very exciting we have recently discovered. If you get the chance have a look at these planets, Kepler-16b (orbiting two stars) and HD 131399Ab (orbiting three stars) and These are real life sci-fi worlds that are orbiting multiple stars. Imagine what life would be like on a planet with multiple Suns!

    • Photo: Hannah Sargeant

      Hannah Sargeant answered on 12 Mar 2017:

      I like Venus because it is the most different. Venus spins in the opposite direction to all the other planets, and it has such a thick atmosphere that it has a crazy greenhouse effect. That means that it is even hotter than Mercury, even though it is further away from the Sun. Also, Venus is a really hard planet to study so it is very mysterious. Because of it’s thick acid atmosphere, our robots have only survived a few hours before they melt!

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