Most Interesting/Most Boring Objects in the Solar Options

[mchan]

Based on where I would like to see umsf craft go further explore --
1. Titan
2. Mars
3. Enceladus
4. Europa
5. Io
6. Vesta
7. Ceres
8. Triton
9. Pluto
10. Miranda

Boring: I have to agree with most of the folks here, Rhea.

Hey, Paris Hilton was the leadoff story on network news tonight. If you can't beat them, I'd say join them. Let's rename Opportunity as Paris Hilton! Ducks.

[Toma B]

Least inspiring: Rhea, Tethys, Oberon, Umbriel, Uranus, Mercury, Saturn proper, Mimas, Ceres, Dione.

How can you say that for Ceres when it has not been imaged better than 30km/pix...
From what I can see in these HST images it is very intersting.
I can't wait for Dawn to do some up close inspection...

A study led by Peter Thomas of Cornell University suggests that Ceres has a differentiated interior: observations coupled with computer models suggest the presence of a rocky core overlain with an icy mantle. This mantle of thickness from 120 to 60 km could contain 200 million cubic kilometres of water, which is more than the amount of fresh water on the Earth.

[djellison]

That's the flaw in this debate. What is intrigue, what is interesting etc. The less we know about something (up to a point) , the more intriguing it becomes. The Columbia Hills were a point of intrigue when we landed, then they became interesting after we arrived.

Ceres is certainly full of intrigue right now - with the tiny HST images just saying "look - I could be all sorts of things - come see". Does that intrigue defy the realty of what may be an uniteresting world - or can any world not yet explored be considered uninteresting.

It's an interesting issue...intruigingly.

Doug

[ugordan]

I have a feeling Ceres can't turn out as boring as Rhea even if it tried. Just look at color/albedo variations in that HST composite. Even if it turns out to be completely ancient geologically, at least visually it'll be interesting.

[ngunn]

That's the flaw in this debate. What is intrigue, what is interesting etc.

I wasn't thinking in terms of a debate, just a light-hearted exchange of highly subjective personal impressions. 'Interesting' to me can mean anything from very familiar but magnificently complex and beautiful (Earth's biosphere) to right-on-the-edge-of-the-observable and pregnant with intriguing possibilities (Sedna).

I think another factor that probably influenced my list was the realistic potential for more to be revealed within the next few decades. (How exactly does the machinery of terrestrial life operate? What is consciousness? Is there any sign of life on Mars? Does Titan posess an evolved ecosystem with broken symmetries - chirality? - and sub-systems maintained in stasis but out of equilibrium? Is Sedna the tip of a new iceberg as Pluto has turned out to be? Did it form around the Sun or was it captured from elsewhere? - all questions we can think about addressing now.)

One day we may be able to explore the deep interiors of the giant planets. They will be extremely interesting when that time approaches, but in the meantime . . .

[David]

Rather than just list "most interesting" objects, it might be helpful to say why they are interesting.

I think a solar system object is more interesting if it has:

1. Presently flowing liquids on its surface (Titan)

2. Formerly flowing surface liquids (Mars)

3. Subsurface liquids (Europa, Mars?)

4. Meteorologically interesting atmosphere (Mars, Titan, Venus; Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune)

5. Present geological/cryological(?) activity (Io, Enceladus - Triton? Venus? Titan??)

6. Past (but not ancient in terms of the age of the Solar System) geological activity (Mars, Venus)

7. Older geological activity with interesting results (Iapetus etc.)

So I guess I find a world more interesting if it has something going on, some kind of movement or activity, now -- rains and rivers on Titan, volcanoes on Io, dust devils on Mars. I don't find floating rocks like Jupiter XLIX (or whatever they're up to now) to be particularly interesting. I am not particularly moved by asteroid classifications. The Kuiper Belt leaves me cold. (Joke!) I'm interested to see what NH finds at Pluto, but only on the supposition that it's something more than just a big, frozen iceball.

[Pavel]

Perhaps instead of "most boring objects" we should be talking about "most overrated objects", i.e. those that receive too much attention compared to other objects. I nominate Enceladus for the first spot.

[lyford]

Good distinction, Pavel! Which object is unduly hogging the public spotlight?

(Though I might quibble with your first choice for purely aesthetic reasons that will become clearer in a future thread....)

[J.J.]

^
Agree with Pavel...I don't think anything in the Solar System is truly boring, but I do think many things are overrated. That said, that doesn't mean I think the overrated places don't have plenty of great science potential.

Faves:
1.) Earth (as someone with a lifelong interest in geology, I could never consider the Earth boring)
2.) Jupiter
3.) Europa
4.) Titan
5.) Venus
6.) Uranus
7.) Mercury
8.) Any long-period comet
9.) Any NEO
10.) Iapetus

Overrated:
1.) Mars
2.) Enceladus
3.) Io
4.) Phobos
5.) Any short-period comet
6.) Any KBO (except Pluto and Sedna)
7.) Triton
8.) The Moon
9.) Interplanetary dust
10.) Rhea

Picking the last two was a real bear...

The Sun, main-belt asteroids, Pluto, and Neptune fall in between the two extremes.

[volcanopele]

Io...overrated.... oohhh, it's on!



Seriously, I am with you on Phobos. Can someone please tell me why the Soviets/Russians were/are so interested in Phobos?!?

[Guest_AlexBlackwell_*]

Seriously, I am with you on Phobos. Can someone please tell me why the Soviets/Russians were/are so interested in Phobos?!?

Genuine scientific interest combined with a chance for a "first" at Mars (i.e., something the U.S. had not done nor shown much interest in pursuing).

[Exploitcorporati...]

This whole exchange gave me another bright idea. This is at a quarter scale and some of the images are placeholders. I'll get the full scale one up at a free hosting site later.

[Rakhir]

Very nice !

[ngunn]

I agree, that's beautiful, but please can we have captions or a key or something? I recognise quite a few of them but not all.

[OWW]

please can we have captions or a key or something?

My best guess:

Moon, Io, Europa, Tethys, Earth, Venus, Mars, Io, Saturn, Venus,
Io, Earth, Enceladus, Europa, Ganymede, Mars, Eros, Earth, Mars, Jupiter,
Jupiter, Itokawa, Neptune, Saturn, Earth, Mercury, Europa, Dione, Ganymede, Titan,
Venus, Sun, Dione, Moon, Rhea, Earth, Earth, Triton, Titan, Enceladus,
Mars, Tempel 1, Earth, Callisto, Io, Enceladus, Saturn, Phoebe, Mars, Hyperion,
Phobos, Earth, Miranda, Hyperion, Iapetus, Saturn, Mars, Earth, Moon, Earth,
Callisto, Ganymede, Titan, Mars, Earth, Earth, Io, Triton, Iapetus, Mars.