How long could you survive on another planet?

Have you ever been laying in bed at night wondering how long you could survive if you were suddenly transported to another planet? Well of course you have, and now you’ll know exactly how long it’ll take you to burst into a cloud of ash or be crushed under intense gravity. Here are the planets in our solar system and the known weather conditions on each, but if you wanted a quick answer, your best-case scenario on the right planet would see you survive for no more than 5 seconds.

Mercury

The planet closest to the sun isn’t the hottest, but that doesn’t stop daytime temperatures reaching up to 400 °C. At night, it can drop as low as -180 °C which is less than 20 °C away from the temperature of liquid nitrogen. Apart from the planet not having an atmosphere, the extreme temperatures would kill you almost instantly, but hopefully, that would happen before the sun that’s over 10 times brighter blinded you.

Venus

This is the hottest planet in our solar system because its thick atmosphere traps gasses that keep in the heat. It can reach close to 500 °C which is hot enough to melt several types of metal, including lead. The surface appears to be bare rock and dust, but pools of liquid metal would surely litter the poisonous gas-filled atmosphere. Because the gases are so thick, they increase surface pressure greatly and are easily strong enough to crush a human to death.

Earth

The only planet in the solar system with a breathable atmosphere, but not necessarily one to visit. The whole planet has been colonized by a strange race called “Humans” who have evolved to the point where their species has started to create things like mobile phones and salad bars. If visiting bring a can of human mace or wear gloves at all times so you don’t have to actually touch any of them.

Mars

Mars is the number one planet choice for colonization, that we can reach at least. Daytime temperatures during the summer rarely reach as high as freezing and can get as low as -120 °C at the poles during winter. The planet is only slightly bigger than half the size of Earth, so the atmosphere would be much lighter, if it had one that is. There is a thin layer of gases surrounding the planet, but it’s far too weak to be able to keep in heat or contain a level of oxygen even close to what we’d need to be able to breathe.

Jupiter

The surface of Jupiter is made up of gas and the planet doesn’t have anything to actually stand on, but what it does have is a level of gravity that could liquify you instantly. There is a famous spot on this gas giant known as the Great Red Spot, which is a storm hundreds of miles wide that has been raging for more than 300 years. It’s made up of densely packed gases that are trapped in a permanent whirlwind state traveling faster than the speed of sound. If you found yourself transported to this planet you would die so fast you wouldn’t even have time to blink.

Saturn

Another gas giant that’s about twice as far away from the sun as Jupiter, making it extremely cold. Average daily temperatures here reach close to -150 °C, and because it’s made of gas there’s no solid surface, just a dense and extremely heavy cloud of dangerous vapors. The rings of Saturn are made up of gas and mineral debris, but you won’t have time to enjoy their sights as this is another place of instant death.

Uranus

Hehe, sorry, but this planet is considered the first ice giant in our solar system and experiences temperatures of around – 180 °C. An interesting fact about this planet is that its axel is badly tilted by 98 degrees, which gives it some interesting weather cycles. Because of how far away from Earth it is, the planet has very long yearly cycles that are equal to 84 Earth years. Each of its seasons is 21 years long and during the summer and winter, parts of the planet are either in permanent light or darkness for the whole 21-year-long season. During the spring and autumn, the planet has a full day and night cycle every 17 hours which seems to be the reason behind the intense storms it has during these months.

Pluto

In 2006, Pluto was downgraded from a planet to a dwarf planet due to it not meeting the criteria for being considered a full-sized planet, but in the interest of not being planetist, I am going to include it on the list. The coldest anyone has estimated the surface of Pluto as being is just below -200 °C, which is the coldest it would be possible for any planet to be regardless of its distance from the sun. No one knows how long it would take for a person to freeze to death at -200 °C plus wind chill, but I’d bet it’s less than 5 seconds.

So there you have it, in the event you suddenly find yourself teleported to another planet you can expect a very quick and extreme death. The best-case scenario would be Mars which would cause you to flash freeze while having the gases within your body sucked out by open space, but at least you may have time to notice the pretty red landscape before you burst.