With Rosetta hanging out so closely with an asteroid, we’re getting better views than ever before of what the surface of an asteroid looks like. But compared to one another, how do the surfaces we’ve visited in our Solar System stack up?
Fortunately, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab has put together this infographic which shows the surfaces of an asteroid, the Moon, Mars, Venus, Titan and Earth next to one another. All views we’ve seen before, of course, but it’s interesting to see the craggy rock of the moon next to Venus’s relatively smooth surface, say.
But the view of Earth’s oceans should remind us of one thing: these are tiny glimpses into large worlds, and each is undoubtedly as rich and full of character as our own planet. We still have an awful lot to explore. [Reddit via Peta Pixel]