---
title: "Former NASA Scientist Absolutely Shreds Planet Emojis"
description: "Former NASA scientist James O'Donoghue ranked all of the \"ringed planet\" emojis based on which looked the most like Saturn."
date: "2020-02-26"
modified: "2020-03-06"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/former-nasa-scientist-absolutely-shreds-planet-emojis"
categories:
  - "NASA"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "emojis"
  - "NASA"
  - "saturn"
  - "the digest"
---

# Former NASA Scientist Absolutely Shreds Planet Emojis

![Planetary scientist James O'Donoghue announced a definitive ranking of all the "ringed planet" emojis out there, based on which looked most like Saturn.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/nasa-planetary-scientist-ranks-planet-emojis.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: James O'Donoghue\</em\>*

## Grudge Match

A planetary scientist who used to work for NASA says he's determined which "ringed planet" emoji is the best.

James O'Donoghue, now working for Japan's space agency JAXA, published [his definitive ranking](<https://twitter.com/physicsJ/status/1232662211438370817>) on Twitter on Wednesday morning. In it, he called [Twitter's attempt](<https://twitter.com/physicsJ/status/1232662220456120321>) at Saturn "the most offensive" — while Whatsapp's emoji took the coveted top spot.

https://twitter.com/physicsJ/status/1232662211438370817

## It's An Emoji

O'Donoghue based his rankings on which emojis were the most photorealistic depictions of Saturn, which is [an unusual metric](<https://futurism.com/machine-learning-photorealistic-emojis>) for emoji quality.

For example, [Whatsapp](<https://twitter.com/physicsJ/status/1232662222528057344>) and [Apple](<https://twitter.com/physicsJ/status/1232662213682323456>) took first and second, respectively, for their accurate patterns and coloration, appropriate spacing between rings, and nailing the angle of the planet's axis. Meanwhile, Twitter took the most artistic liberties with colors and ring patterns, landing it in dead last place.

https://twitter.com/physicsJ/status/1232662224604262401

**READ MORE:** [Complete Twitter thread](<https://twitter.com/physicsJ/status/1232662211438370817>)

**More on emojis:** *[Google Is Adding 53 Gender-Fluid Emoji to its Smartphones](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/google-adding-53-gender-fluid-emoji>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)