Speaking of Science: 5th from the sun, #1 in my heart

It all started with a tweet.I'd just written a story on new research suggesting that Saturn's rings have only a few hundred million years left to live, and my editor shared it from...

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It all started with a tweet. I'd just written a story on new research suggesting that Saturn's rings have only a few hundred million years left to live, and my editor shared it from the Post Health-Science account with this heading: "The most beautiful things in the solar system are halfway gone." Um. I hate to argue with my boss, but here on the Washington Post science team, we believe in unbiased, reality-based, truth-telling journalism. And it's just objective fact that Saturn's rings are not the most beautiful things in the solar system. Jupiter's clouds are. Exhibit A: Jupiter is viewed from 415 million miles away by the Hubble Space Telescope. (NASA, ESA, and A. Simon/NASA Goddard) And B: (NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstadt/Sean Doran) And C: (NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstädt/Seán Doran)   ADVERTISEMENT   Unfortunately, the good folks of Twitter didn't seem to recognize this truth. When we posted a poll on the issue, Saturn beat Jupiter handily. Democracy dies in darkness, folks. Clearly it was my journalistic duty to enlighten the masses. So I wrote up all my most compelling, most cogent arguments for why Jupiter deserves the title of best planet. Anyway, my editor didn't fire me for challenging her judgment and even let me publish my treatise. And because it was so powerfully persuasive, it captured the imagination of my friend Brian Cleveland, a copy editor at The Post (and champion of Earthlings everywhere). Which is how this happened: https://twitter.com/sarahkaplan48/status/1082843828111978496 If you faithful readers have ideas for names for Brian's and my new band, let us know. And if you want to make the case for another planet, send your best argument to sarah.kaplan@washpost.com. We at The Post value diversity of opinion. Even if all those other opinions are wrong. — Sarah Scientists just got closer to solving one of astronomy's biggest mysteries A new instrument detected more than a dozen fast radio bursts — powerful flashes of radio energy that appear all over the sky. By Sarah Kaplan · Read more     ADVERTISEMENT   As shutdown continues, so does damage to U.S. science Scientists are smarting from the loss of data, research opportunities and paychecks. By Ben Guarino, Carolyn Y. Johnson, Sarah Kaplan and Lenny Bernstein · Read more   Behold, the solar system's best planet How a giant of the solar system helped humanity find our place in the cosmos. By Sarah Kaplan · Read more   What's behind the confidence of the incompetent? This suddenly popular psychological phenomenon. The Dunning-Kruger effect has gotten a surge of interest during the Trump administration. By Angela Fritz · Read more   China lands spacecraft on the far side of the moon, a historic first The mission will explore a massive crater at the lunar south pole. By Sarah Kaplan, Gerry Shih and Rick Noack · Read more   Here are NASA's first up-close images of the most distant object ever explored Ultima Thule, made of two icy space rocks smashed together, resembles a reddish snowman. By Sarah Kaplan · Read more   Recommended for you Get The Energy 202 newsletter PowerPost's daily guide to energy and environment policy, by reporter Dino Grandoni. Sign Up

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