Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

aurumae t1_jdoahwd wrote

“Half the distance to the moon” makes it seem like this is a very close approach, and in relative terms it is.

But the distance between Earth and the moon is still mind-bogglingly huge. So big, that you could fit all the other planets in the solar system end-to-end between Earth and the moon and still have space to spare

86

dreamchains t1_jdoav8e wrote

Not quite, it depends on the orientation of the planets (pole to pole/side to side) and the position of the moon. But that makes it even more interesting to me how close those numbers happen to be.

14

MinniMemes t1_jdolves wrote

The operative word is could, as in, given the correct positioning, you COULD make this occur. It’s not saying “you will make this occur, given any possible positioning/rotation.”

22

the_ladies_love_my t1_jdompyb wrote

Dreamchains was hoping for some community confirmation lmao. Obviously a half glass empty type of person.

0

dreamchains t1_jdovhv9 wrote

Notice how you had to clarify that you COULD do it, but only given the correct positioning? That was literally the exact point of my comment lmao. I was just trying to add to a cool fact, not argue semantics.

−6

d_barbz t1_jdp286p wrote

He didn't need to clarify it until you misunderstood it.

If you wanted to add to a cool fact your sentence would have been better off starting with something along the lines of "And", "Also" or even "However" rather than something that's attempting to be contradictory like "Not quite".

3

r0ckH0pper t1_jdp6w3g wrote

Um, please keep this theoretical. No experimenting. Please.

−1

dreamchains t1_jdpbeoa wrote

You clearly don't understand what "not quite" means, so not sure why you're being so pedantic. It's not contradicting anything. It's saying his comment was "not completely or entirely" (definition straight from google) true. Really don't understand why you guys feel the need to get so defensive on behalf of someone I wasn't even attacking.

−3

d_barbz t1_jdpey9h wrote

The same reason you spoke up in the first place mate. We're all a bunch of pedantic fucks

2

MinniMemes t1_jdsmtcj wrote

The pedantry started with your comment. “Not quite” starts with a negation. There’s no need to negate something that was already true. You can clarify without negating. In fact, it’s much more fun that way. Share first, rather than using language that is ‘gatekeep-y’.

0

dreamchains t1_jdt2f08 wrote

You clearly still don't know what "not quite" means, even though I literally just copy pasted it. How much more could I possibly spell it out?

0

daveinpublic t1_jdovnx8 wrote

I still think half the distance to the moon sounds pretty close.

3

portmantuwed t1_jdpig9p wrote

250k miles seems pretty accessible to me and not "mind-bogglingly huge". this sub regularly posts about jwst newest galaxy thats 13 billion light years away. a day or two ago had a long running joke about the distance between castor and pollux being like some quadrillion tennis courts or whatever

most americans will drive over 250k miles in their lifetime. if you've driven coast to coast you can imagine doing it 99 more times and how far that is. its so much more imaginable than a light year

8

aurumae t1_jdppk9t wrote

My point was to illustrate that even though the moon is the closest thing to us in space the distances are still vast compared to the sizes of the planets themselves. The Earth and moon are often depicted as being practically on top of each other, but the distance between them is two orders of magnitude greater than the size of either body. Like I said the distance is so big that you could fit all the planets in the solar system between the Earth and the moon (though as someone pointed out, only at apogee). Of course, since the moon is the closest thing to us, other distances are going to be much more impressive, but the fact that you could drop a great big giant thing like Jupiter in between the Earth and the moon and for it not even to be a tight fit I found really helped me to get a sense of the distance.

3

MyWALife t1_jdpprcw wrote

And not only that, I’ve seen the moon with my own eyes. I can definitely imagine, “halfway to that.”

1