Making future travel plans .. with an emphasis on ‘future?’ Check out these exoplanet travel posters from NASA.
In late December, 2014, the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s (fictional)
Exoplanet Travel Bureau
released these 1930s-style travel posters depicting three exoplanets as
destinations – hypothetical, so far – for future travel. These worlds
orbiting stars besides our sun exist, alright, but all are vastly too
far away to travel to in the course of a single human lifespan, with
existing technology. But someday, maybe. Which one would you choose
for a visit?
Image credit: NASA/JPL
Destination #1: Kepler-16b, located 200 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Cygnus. Like Luke Skywalker’s planet
Tatooine
in Star Wars, Kepler-16b orbits not one but two stars. It’s the first
confirmed, unambiguous example of a planet orbiting a double sun.
Although it’s depicted here as a terrestrial planet, Kepler-16b might
also be a gas giant like Saturn.
Down side: It has a temperature similar to that of dry ice (-109.3°F or -78.5°C). Be sure to bring along a jacket!
Up side: Double sunsets.
Image credit: NASA/JPL
Destination #2: Kepler-186f, located 490 light-years
away in the direction of the constellation Cygnus. Kepler-186f is the
first Earth-size planet discovered in its star’s habitable zone – aka
the Goldilocks zone. That is the zone of possible orbits around another
stars in which liquid water could exist on the planet’s surface.
But don’t take that to mean that stars in the habitable zone would be similar to Earth.
For example, Kepler-186f’s star is much cooler and redder than our
sun. If plant life does exist on a planet like Kepler-186f, its
photosynthesis could have been influenced by the star’s red-wavelength
photons, making for a color palette that’s very different than the
greens on Earth.
Image credit: NASA/JPL
Destination #3: HD 40307g, located 42 light-years away in the direction of the southern constellation Pictor. Is this world a
super-Earth or a
mini-Neptune?
Scientists aren’t sure whether it has a rocky surface or a surface
buried under thick layers of gas and ice. One thing is certain though,
says NASA, at eight time Earth’s mass, the gravitational pull of HD
40307g is much, much stronger than what we experience on the surface of
our home world. Skydiving, anyone?
NASA JPL Visual Strategists Joby Harris, David Delgado and Dan Goods created these posters.
Bottom line: Exoplanet travel posters from NASA.
Read more about these travel posters from NASA/JPL
How long would it take to get to Alpha Centauri?
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