Awesome Planets

This two-piece metal planet puzzle from Hanayama is more challenging than it looks. Designer Masui Ohno created this brainteaser that asks you to solve what should be a simple problem: release the silver planet from inside of its golden ring by twisting, turning, and pushing its bumpy surface through the jagged inner ring. Measures appx 2″ across.

This new 360º version of The Known Universe takes us on a journey from the Himalayas, out of the Milky Way, and into the darkness of space. The immersive view lets you look around as you travel, and is now available in razor-sharp 4K resolution. Created by Deion Desir and Lee Stevens for the American Museum of Natural History using OpenSpace.

This fascinating tabletop showpiece features a miniature replica of our solar system. It uses magnetic levitation tech to float accurate models of each planet in orbit around the sun. The positions of each planet are synchronized in real-time using NASA data, and it’s available with a light-up sun. You can also accelerate the orbital speed for faster action.

When a planet is ejected from its star system, it’s known as a “rogue planet.” You’d think that such a planet would be uninhabitable, but Bright Side explores the possibilities of living on a rogue planet by harnessing its geothermal energy make heat and light, and extracting water from underground sources.

Lollipops are a fun way to enjoy hard candy. They’re even better when they’re edible works of art. Food Kingdom takes us inside Orbsei, a factory in Korea that makes spherical, sugar-free lollies that look like planets and galaxies. What makes them even more amazing is how much handwork goes into each one.

Is Mercury the hottest planet? Is the Earth a perfect sphere? Does Uranus smell bad? Mental Floss host Justin Dodd takes us on a mission to space for a look at things you thought you knew about our solar system’s planets, and probably had wrong. The bottom line, most other planets sound like pretty miserable places to live.

Are you ready to slow down and breathe? Well then, click play on this video and observe one full rotation of Jupiter. Interplanetary posted this relaxing footage captured by NASA and ESA’s Hubble telescope. It takes 9 hours, 55 minutes, and 30 seconds to complete the taks, the fastest of any planet in our solar system.

Build your own desktop solar system with this wooden model kit from Robotime. As you crank its handle, eight tiny worlds spin around a glowing sun, simulating the relative speeds of each planet’s rotation. The 316-piece, 13.78″ tall model is best for advanced builders and takes about 7 hours to assemble.

Colberd makes these tabletop lamps based on 3D models of our solar system’s planets. Each 5″ sphere is 3D printed from PLA plastic with a detailed map of the planet’s surface created from NASA images. They have a 16-color LED light source and include a wooden stand and remote control. USB power cable not included.

Take a trip into space with this levitating planet lamp from Levitos. The illuminated planet floats and spins about 0.75″ above its base using electromagnetic induction technology and casts a colorful glow from inside of its orb. The planet and base measure about 5.25″ wide.

Until now, most of the images we’ve seen of Venus have been shrouded in a thick blanket of clouds. Recently, the Wide-Field Imager (WISPR) on NASA’s Parker Solar Probe was able to capture the first-ever visible-light images of the surface of Venus. By comparing these with radar-based images, we get the best understanding so far of the planet’s features.

Celebrate your love for our planet and our neighbors in space with these oversize puzzles from Chronicle Books. Measuring 2.5 feet in diameter, the kid-friendly 100-piece puzzles feature beautiful satellite images captured by NASA of the Earth, Mercury, Mars, and our moon.

Now that we know how slowly objects fall on various planets, learn how fast you’d need to be moving to escape those same planets in a rocket. Dr. James O’Donoghue’s animated infographic might seem counterintuitive at first, but you can escape planets with larger masses faster because your velocity would be higher.

Ever wondered how big the planets are in science fiction? Well, wonder no longer. MetaBallStudios has you covered with this comparison video that lets you see the massive size differences between a planet like Dwarf Terrace-9 on Rick and Morty, and Reach from Halo. And then there’s Star Trek’s Dyson Sphere.

Dr. James O’Donoghue posts all kinds of informative motion graphics on his YouTube channel. Here, he stacked slices of the Solar System’s planets to show how their rotational speeds vary. You can view it flat, or projected onto a sphere. He’s also got a version that accounts for for differences in rotational direction.

Artist Thomas Blanchard follows up his stunning short film The Other Side with a more singular effort, filling our screens with colorful planetary bodies and galaxies. Like his other works, there’s no CGI here – the images you see are made entirely from paint, oil, inks, and soap.

The always awesome Chop Shop Store teamed up with The Planetary Society to create 20 wooden blocks, each featuring a planet, dwarf planet, or moon from our solar system, and printed with useful data. They’re also offering space-themed add-ons like posters, tees, and stickers. Shipping starts 11/2019.

Back in the 1980s, car salesman Dennis Hope started selling plots of land on Earth’s moon, and has since expanded to other lunar and planetary bodies. We’re pretty sure he and his buyers own absolutely jack squat, but it’s a nice dream anyhow. Zach Christy’s video explains.

AstroReality offers a set of colorful 3D printed models of the Solar System’s planets – plus Pluto. Each sphere measures about 1.2″ in diameter. Get AstroReality’s augmented reality app and to view add-on effects like Saturn’s rings or the Earth’s atmosphere.

As NASA’s Juno spacecraft orbits Jupiter, it’s sending back data and imagery that reveals new details about the gas giant. The planet’s poles are awash with constantly swirling cyclones, and its powerful magnetic field is even stronger than scientists had estimated.

Ever wondered just how big other planets are? Take a minute out of your day to watch Brad Goodspeed’s short video, which gives us a sense of scale by placing planets into orbit around Earth.

Check out Karl Tate’s intriguing infographic that explores the highest and deepest points on earth; it also includes egg boiling time and the Horizon oil rig as points of reference. (Thanks, Stephen!)

We’ve got good and bad news about Flying Mouse’s 9 Ball tee/hoodie; the good: Pluto is back in play; the bad: planetary pool is not what it’s racked up to be if you’re the cue ball.