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  • EADD Moderators: Shambles

Did you know.....?

Shambles said:
Related to the slowing of the Earth's spin is the fact that the moon used to be much, much closer to the Earth and moves away at a rate of an inch and a half per year which slows the Earth day by four hours every billion years.

(in the interest of honesty, i had to double check the actual figure and the rate of slowing was a google bonus)
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That was going to be my next one ;)

The moons size and distance from earth makes it look pretty much exactly the same size as the sun.

The moon rotates once every orbit, therefore only ever showing us one side.

(I find these two facts pretty amazing.. not special relativity theory amazing but.. what are the chances??) =D
 
But - crucially - not exactly the same size. Worth a mention cos it's one of those pieces of 'evidence' used by religious folk to 'prove'... dunno what it's meant to prove actually but religionists are very keen on saying that the moon is precisely the right size to cover the sun during an eclipse which presumably means... well it means they've either never seen an eclipse or failed maths (volumes and all that). It is a pleasing coincidence that it so nearly covers the disc of the sun during an eclipse that it looks especially pretty to people living in the current stage of the Earth-Moon system though. Anybody recall the eclipse in the 90s? I do quite vividly. Was having a very good day that day and eclipses really are kinda spooky. Can quite see how they could utterly mindfuck folk in the past.
 
If that was the year it was then that would be the one cos there's only been one full solar eclipse in the UK during my lifetime afaik. I know SHM remembers it cos I found a vid on PooToob filmed at the spot he was viewing it from which apparently earned me thanks from Mrs SHM. Not sure a vid taken from the top of the multistorey car park that me, the then Mrs Shambles and assorted accomplices viewed it from would have quite the same effect. Small, rural market towns - specifically multistorey carparks therein - are not quite so pretty as SW coast beaches.

EDIT: Eerie is spot on. The way it just went so quiet when the light dimmed. Very odd. Nothinig like dawn or dusk or other times when you may get light vaguely similar to that. Quite a unique feeling so it is.
 
Shambles said:
But - crucially - not exactly the same size. Worth a mention cos it's one of those pieces of 'evidence' used by crazy folk to 'prove' that the moon was constructed by super reptiles.
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Fixed ;)

And yeah i remember the eclipse.. There was the one in 99 (which i didn't get to see.. fckin clouds).. but i see the partial one in 96 when i was just a wee lad..

Gonna be an 80% cover partial eclipse next year =D 20th March..

Next full one will be in 2090.. unless science comes up with some hardcore medicine and / or machinery I'm not gonna see it.. A 104 year old cyborg.. hmmmm..
 
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We escaped the clouds - was a gloriously sunny day with clear blue skies where we were. I do recall the BBC's live coverage was apparently a bit of a flop - their own fault for trusting their weather reports really :D

I did not know there was a nearly eclipse next year but will presumably spot it when it happens. Although don't recall the '96 one at all. Was probably nodding or summat 8)

And the moon was not constructed by super reptiles. That's silly. It was constructed by The Empire and is in fact the Death Star in disguise. This is why we need to raise an army of Ewoks as a matter of urgency.
 
I managed to miss Halley's Comet as a nipper which I rather regret now cos doubt I'll be around for next time. It's probably not all that impressive to see but given I was well into astronomy and stuff it's still a bit of a regret. Can't even remember why I didn't see it. Probably wasn't allowed to. Sent to bed with the curtains sewn up (or the windows boarded over 8)) sounds about right for that era.
 
I wasn't even born then, but I do remember seeing Hale-Bopp back in 1997.

Did you know Halley's Comet is predicted to appear again in 2061. (Hopefully I'll still be around to see it!)
 
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9 months later.. I was born =D

Before we lose the point in this thread:

If we could hear any lower than 20Hz we could hear our own muscles moving.
 
Shambles said:
I managed to miss Halley's Comet as a nipper which I rather regret now cos doubt I'll be around for next time. It's probably not all that impressive to see but given I was well into astronomy and stuff it's still a bit of a regret. Can't even remember why I didn't see it. Probably wasn't allowed to. Sent to bed with the curtains sewn up (or the windows boarded over 8)) sounds about right for that era.
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I witnessed that one. Being a space-obsessed six-year-old and all. My dad bought me a telescope after the event. Which I succeeded in breaking very promptly.

The 1999 eclipse, however, was just clouds and a generally miserable time of my life. Some you win, some you lose.
 
Did you know: That the argument often used against science; "People used to think the earth was flat!" is a myth..

And irrelevant and nonsensical to use any way?
 
ITT:

ddjfbp.jpg
 
The first recorded instance of anybody saying the world is flat is in Gulliver's Travels. Americans probably cling to the myth so strongly cos Washington Irving (of Sleepy Hollow and Rip van Winkle fame) wrote a 'history' of Columbus' voyage to the New World in which he invented a scene of the church scoffing at the idea of the world being anything other than flat (the church has never taught that the world is flat... not until recent times anyway (and possibly very ancient ones but that's not overly clear whether it was intended to be taken literally)). There's no real evidence I'm aware of of any culture believing the world is flat. It's referred to as a sphere in just about all ancient cultures and right through until the myth became popularised in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The ancient Greeks not only knew the Earth was round but even measured it to within about 1% of its true diameter. I can see how maybe some cultures - specifically landlocked ones but even then a bit of a stretch - could conceivably imagine the world to be flat but does seem unlikely. Forest-bound cultures like some in South America may well have done I suppose. Generally speaking it is a myth though.

HouseFever said:
People still do and their forum is a hilarious read.
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That's serious research I'll have you know. Nothing funny about it. They KNOW!!! :sus:
 
The first two are specific individuals and not necessarily representative given the ancient Greeks did know the world was round. Jains and Buddhists I was not aware held this view and would wonder if it was meant to be taken literally or whether something maybe even got lost in translation. The Norse apparently did at one time but - as with the ancient Chinese - as a sea-faring race that makes no sense as the fact you see a ship's mast before you see the hull has been used as proof the world was round since ancient times by many cultures. Again I would suspect metaphor is involved rather than literal belief. Ancient Germanic tribes were kinda foresty folk, no? Limited access and famiiarity with horizons would explain flat Earth beliefs as I said.

I suspect it's largely a matter of experience and education. Sea-faring nations were well aware of the shape - presumably any culture who could see the horizon worked it out actually. It really isn't rocket science (you can see further if you go higher therefore the surface has to be curved). I'm sure the average serf had more immediately important issues on their mind so probably didn't put much thought into it.
 
The sun makes up more than 99% of the mass of the solar system.

Chances are no two decks of shuffled cards have ever been in the same arrangement.. in the history of the universe (or, well.. cards)
 
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