By contrast, the data on which Newton and Einstein built their theories were from stars, planets and moons.

ECONOMIST: Physics

And new software, plus the ability to vary the projected sizes and brightnesses of planets and moons, makes it possible to simulate the sky from anywhere in the solar system: to see earthrise from Mars, for example, or to watch Jupiter's moons rise and set from a vantage point just above the gas giant's cloud-tops.

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The pictures transmitted by the Voyagers showed the two giant planets, and their assorted moons and rings, in unprecedented detail.

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So if life can thrive in the dark, in isolation, in temperatures no warmer than -13C, where else could it be on Earth and beyond, on distant planets or moons for example?

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If the question is life - and that's one of the most profound questions we can ask, he says - the answer is almost certainly not Mars or an asteroid, but rather the icy moons orbiting distant planets like Saturn and Jupiter.

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For the moons and surface features of non-minor planets, though, the traditional themes are more rigorously enforced.

ECONOMIST: Today we have naming of parts