this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2024
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Science Memes

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top 38 comments
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[–] JackGreenEarth@lemm.ee 75 points 7 months ago (1 children)

The sun is 1.4 million kilometres in diameter, and it is surprisingly hard to throw something into it.

The more important question is how much of our night sky the moon takes up, and the answer is only 0.5 degrees.

[–] TxzK@lemmy.zip 17 points 7 months ago (4 children)

How much is that in hamburgers? Sorry I only understand freedom units

[–] morrowind@lemmy.ml 16 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Approximately .075 hamburger at arms length

[–] BastingChemina@slrpnk.net 13 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I think you meant 5/64 of a hamburger.

I was told that the concept of decimal is too hard to understand compared to fractions.

[–] hsr@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 7 months ago

Unfortunately you're completely wrong here. Americans, burgers, and fractions don't mix well.

Third pound burger failed because people thought it was smaller than a Quarter Pounder

[–] Ludrol@szmer.info 13 points 7 months ago

0.5° is 0.00873 radians

[–] JayDee@lemmy.ml 5 points 7 months ago

Turkey at distance is the proper measure here. That's a Turkey at I'd reckon 10 football fields.

[–] lolcatnip@reddthat.com 3 points 7 months ago

Degrees are the freedom unit!

[–] ech@lemm.ee 74 points 7 months ago (1 children)

More importantly, the full moon occupies 0.00077% of our sky, and is moving at 1.022 km/s around the earth. Suffice to say, if you land on the moon, you've done something incredible.

[–] IrritableOcelot@beehaw.org 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, it's a funny meme, but a basic understanding of physics reaaaallly flips it on its' head.

[–] orphiebaby@lemm.ee 2 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

A basic understanding ~~of physics~~

Just "a basic understanding", yeah

[–] darkphotonstudio@beehaw.org 37 points 7 months ago

Having played Kerbal Space Program, orbital mechanics and ballistics make that diameter a lot smaller than one might anticipate. It's pretty easy to fuck up.

[–] Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de 31 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

This gave me flashbacks to being a new Kerbal Space Program player.

Someday I'll rescue Jeb from his awkward Solar orbit.

[–] tacosanonymous@lemm.ee 6 points 7 months ago (2 children)

There is a one button solution to lost Kerbalnauts…

[–] Scubus@sh.itjust.works 1 points 7 months ago

A final stage that ejects a gas tank into the cockpit?

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 4 points 7 months ago

I was in a band called Awkward Solar Orbit. We had a very bright outlook but even we knew we weren't going anywhere.

[–] Sekrayray@lemmy.world 20 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Yeah. But then you remember that space is big—so it’s pretty damn easy to miss.

[–] ArmokGoB@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 7 months ago (1 children)
[–] lengau@midwest.social 9 points 7 months ago (1 children)

You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is.

[–] reverendsteveii@lemm.ee 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

you might think it's a long way to the chemist's...

[–] nxdefiant@startrek.website 5 points 7 months ago

but that's just peanuts to space.

[–] MonkderZweite@feddit.ch 16 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Then you remember that he's in a 2'407'100 km void.

[–] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 4 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

Ok. What country uses apostrophes instead of commas, or periods? I had thought that India's messed up comma system was the most irritating notation possible. I had never seen this notation.

[–] nxdefiant@startrek.website 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

1,00,000

what in the actual hell.

ok so it kinda makes sense?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_numbering_system

Still, wow.

[–] MonkderZweite@feddit.ch 1 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

German i guess? The apostrophe for thousands, the dot for fractions. Using commas in numbers is the weird thing.

[–] Mangoholic@lemmy.ml 15 points 7 months ago

I did the perfect shot, but then it just move out of the way >=\

[–] Iron_Lynx@lemmy.world 15 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Counterpoint:

Orbital semimajor axis of the moon (basically the orbit radius): 384400 km

Subtract earth's radius: becomes 378000 km above earth's surface at mean sea level.

Moon radius: 1737.4 km

tan^-1^(1737.4 / 378000) = 0.26 degrees

Conclusion: at best, assuming the moon is directly overhead and any glancing contact is a success, you can deviate maximally 0.26 degrees from a dead centre hit to hit the moon.

Good luck with that.

[–] nickwitha_k@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Thank you for doing the math on that.

[–] Iron_Lynx@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

You're welcome! I thought it would be in the spirit of this community to put numbers to it, so that's exactly what I did.

[–] CobblerScholar@lemmy.world 12 points 7 months ago

I mean sure but the moon occupies less than 1% of the celestial hemisphere and its moving

[–] FartsWithAnAccent@fedia.io 10 points 7 months ago

Sounds like someone hasn't considered the challenges of achieving escape velocity...

[–] root_beer@midwest.social 10 points 7 months ago

You could easily fuck it up more. Like, shoot in the opposite direction, or shoot for the sun. Hell, you could just blow the rocket up altogether. Guys, it’s so easy to fuck it up waaayyy more.

[–] OpenStars@startrek.website 9 points 7 months ago

Do not underestimate the amount of "Hold my beer" that people possess. :-P

[–] spittingimage@lemmy.world 7 points 7 months ago (1 children)
[–] reverendsteveii@lemm.ee 2 points 7 months ago

We just need to wait for a full moon so we don't miss.

[–] stevedidwhat_infosec@infosec.pub 6 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Yeah well escape velocity >: (

YOU DO IT

[–] AOCapitulator@hexbear.net 4 points 7 months ago

And with the gravity well it's even larger than that