• Question: If you had the ability to visit any planet in the solar system what planet would you choose and why?

    Asked by hannahralston to Joel, Kristian, Tim, Venus, Zachary on 19 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: Tim Hollowood

      Tim Hollowood answered on 19 Nov 2013:

      Nice question Hannah. I think it would have to be one of the gas giants…in fact I would love to go see Saturn. It’s got the lot: interesting moons and then of course the famous rings. It would be amazing to see the rings up close. They are made up of billions of pieces of rock.

    • Photo: Kristian Harder

      Kristian Harder answered on 19 Nov 2013:

      Haha, call me boring, but I’d be most interested in standing on the moon. It’s so completely different from Earth: no atmosphere, much lower gravity, all grey. And yet, Earth is close enough that you can see it in a lot of detail from the moon. I think this would be a very dramatic moment: see how small and fragile our own planet is, while standing on its “partner rock” that ended up so very different. You can even see Russia from there, probably even better than from Alaska. 🙂
      (And for the record, yes, you were asking about other *planets*, and the moon is “just” a moon, but some people say that because the moon is so big, Earth and Moon should actually be considered a double planet system, and not a planet with a moon. 🙂 )

    • Photo: Zachary Williamson

      Zachary Williamson answered on 20 Nov 2013:

      I’d love to visit Europa. Ok, so it’s a moon, but it’s a moon of Jupiter. So I’d visit Jupiter and then take a short hop to Europa!

      It’s a moon whose surface is covered in ice. Underneath that ice are vast amounts of liquid water. We have good reasons to suspect that there’s life in that vast Europan ocean and I would love to find out.

      Also, visiting Jupiter would be such an awe-inspiring experience. To be close to such tumult and chaos would be incredible. I’m sure I could happily spend years in orbit around Jupiter, just watching the planet turn.

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