Space is the Place! (by Mike Baker)
Space travel has intrigued Americans for more than a century. The imagery of human colonies on the Moon and Mars, giant space stations orbiting the Earth, exotic alien landscapes and species, and a myriad of other celestial visions have shaped our dreams and our actions as technology steadily advances. The planets in our Solar System have provided plenty of grist for the imagination as scientists learn more about them each year— yet even now, we're still driven by that original question of "What's Out There?"
Mercury
Most kids leave elementary school knowing that Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun and it's very hot. But despite the fact that it reaches a high of 800 °F, it never gets hotter than -130 °F at its poles and averages about -260 °F on its dark side. The lack of a stable atmosphere accounts for part of its temperature extremes while its rugged, cratered topography — some of which never sees the light of the Sun —may provide conditions for ice to actually exist. Are there perhaps Icy Sled Runs Away From the Sun?
Best Observation in 2019? Mercury will flip back and forth between the morning and evening sky from June to the end of the year, but will be the brightest in the morning sky between November 19th and December 13th. On November 11th, however, Mercury will make its final transit across the Sun as a black blip and will be visible (only with the proper equipment). It won't happen again until 2049!
Venus
Its proximity as the closest planet to Earth made Venus the first planet visited (1962) and landed on (1970) by a spacecraft from Earth. Since that time, the notion of "scooting on over to Venus" as we depict in our poster, has manifested itself in the no fewer than eight spacecraft to have visited the planet. A 2016 NASA plan involves landing a rover on the planet to monitor its extreme, human-hostile environment – the rover would be driven by wind power and controlled by a mechanical computer!
Best Observation in 2019? Unless you catch it just before sunrise at the very end of June, Venus will be obscured by sunlight until October 10th, when it rises in the western sky and is easily viewed with the naked eye.
Mars
A vacation on Mars near Olympus Mons, the 72,000'-high volcano with a footprint the size of France, may very well end up becoming a reality if the plans being developed by NASA, ESA, the United Arab Emirates, and SpaceX are realized. SpaceX's Big Falcon Rocket, in particular, is poised to deliver the first crewed flight to the planet during the 2024 launch window from the historic Launch Pad 39A (which will be discussed next month!). An interesting concept that first emerged in 1996 was Mars to Stay, which regards permanent human habitation on Mars in the same way the earliest settlers regarded the New World — that a trip to Mars is a one-way affair for those willing to do so. A controversial subject, the notion of leaving Earth and not returning found expression in a slogan developed by the Mars Artists Community:
Best Observation in 2019? With all the activity on Earth regarding the Red Planet, this is a "re-building" year for Mars, which moves farther away from Earth, but can still be seen with binoculars in Cancer on July 13th. After that, it's too close to the Sun for a sighting.
Jupiter
The largest of our planets, it's similar to Venus in that it's quite inhospitable – and dissimilar in that it actually cannot be landed on because, in the simplest terms, it's a gas giant of hydrogen with a layer of ammonia. This is why for human exploration, Jupiter's moons are a better draw – none more than Io. The idea of an Ioian Grand Prix, as dramatized by our poster above, is perhaps inspired by the fact that when Voyager 1 first sent images of Io back to Earth, we learned that Io's surface was abundant in smooth plains punctuated by volcanism and massive mountains – the perfect site for a raceway!
Presently, NASA's Juno space probe orbits Jupiter and has observed Io's volcanic activity. Proposed for a 2021 launch, the Io Volcano Observer would fly by Io several times while orbiting Jupiter in 2026.
Best Observation in 2019? Jupiter's best viewing has already occurred this year (in fact, just a few weeks ago on June 10th), but it's still visible until August in the southwestern sky (southern Ophiuchus) with the naked eye and even better with binoculars or a telescope when you want to take in its moons and Great Red Spot.
Saturn
The most recent exploration to Saturn by the Cassini spacecraft began in 2004 when it flew by Phoebe, one of Saturn's planets, and ended in 2017 when it passed through the gaps between the planet and its inner rings. Future exploration focuses on two of its moons: Enceladus and Titan.
Best Observation in 2019? Saturn is the planet to observe on July 9th! That's because it comes the closest to Earth when it reaches opposition. Look for Saturn just to the left of Sagittarius' "Teapot" with even a small telescope (2" and 20x) and its rings will provide a stunning view, as they are tilted 24 degrees to our line of sight.
Of course, the best view of Saturn's rings would be from its moon Titan, as speculated by our poster!
Uranus
Known playfully as "The Sideways Planet" because of its tilted axis of rotation — its north and south poles are where other planets' equators reside — which means that one pole (currently its "north") always faces the Sun. It has been speculated that the planet's odd axial tilt is a result of a cosmic collision perhaps four billion years ago.
There are several projected concepts for missions to Uranus, one of which is from NASA, which would use a launch window in the late 2020s and perhaps use a nuclear power source for the mission's spacecraft.
Best Observation in 2019? Look for Uranus on in the constellation Aries with a pair of binoculars (avoid light pollution!) on the evening of October 28th when it reaches opposition.
Neptune
Although there is no current approved mission to visit Neptune by any of Earth's space agencies, one of the proposed plans includes NASA's Trident, which would launch in 2026 and perform five gravity-assist maneuvers – the cheapest, slowest route because Earth technology is roughly 15 years away from being able to fly directly to the outer planets – en route to a flyby of Neptune and its largest moon, Triton, in 2038.
Triton's cryovolcanism is certainly a subject of interest for Trident, so its frozen nitrogen geysers might be observed in about 19 years!
Best Observation in 2019? Neptune's blue hue is best sought in the constellation Aquarius with a pair of binoculars or a telescope during the evening of September 10th when it reaches opposition.
What about Pluto?
In 2006, Pluto was re-classified as a dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union, but regardless of the definition, its ice mountains would prove to be nothing short of colossal for a visitor. The only exploration of Pluto so far was in 2015 by the New Horizons spacecraft, a fitting name for the continued interest Earth has for exploring the Solar System!
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Third-party photo credits, in order of appearance
- Mercury: (By NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington - NASA/JPL.Edited version of Mercury in color - Prockter07.jpg by jjron (cropped to square)., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24301424)
- Venus: (By NASA or Ricardo Nunes - http://www.astrosurf.com/nunes/explor/explor_m10.htm, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=338424)
- Mars To Stay: (CC BY 3.0, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25764136)
- Mars: (By ESA - European Space Agency & Max-Planck Institute for Solar System Research for OSIRIS Team ESA/MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA - http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2007/02/True-colour_image_of_Mars_seen_by_OSIRIS, CC BY-SA 3.0-igo, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=56489423)
- Jupiter: (By NASA, ESA, and A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center) - http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic1410a/ or
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2014/24/image/b/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32799232)
- Saturn: (By NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute - http://www.ciclops.org/view/5155/Saturn-Four-Years-On http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/365640main_PIA11141_full.jpg http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA11141, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7228953)
- Uranus: (By NASA, ESA, and M. Showalter (SETI Institute) - http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2007/32/image/c/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4236731)
(By NASA (image modified by Jcpag2012) - Images found in NASA, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39785448)
- Neptune: (By NASA - JPL image, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=640803)
- Triton: (By NASA / Jet Propulsion Lab / U.S. Geological Survey - http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA00317, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=96172)
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