The Earth and Moon

[Mince]

Here is the moon and Earth, with sizes and distances to scale.

Light takes two seconds to get from the moon to the Earth, so what you see in the night sky is the moon two seconds ago.

If you make the distance between the moon and Earth 390 times larger, that's the distance between the Earth and the sun.

If you make the distance between the moon and Earth 107 million times larger, that's the distance between the Earth and the next nearest star, Alpha Centauri.

[Roger Kettle]

I can't help feeling I'm missing something. I kept looking at the attachment and waiting for an alien or something to suddenly appear on screen. Seven hours, I waited.
If your intention was to illustrate how far Earth is from Alpha Centauri, well, thank you. I kind of knew the distance was enormous but thank you anyway. You are now free to point out how stupid I've been.

[Mince]

Lol! The image is oversize. Scroll the image from left to right.

It's like the laptop lid all over again.

[Diane CBPFC]

I would like to congratulate everyone on their increasing maturity. Not one of you asked Mince about Uranus.

[Roger Kettle]

 

[Mince]

Did you know that Mercury is on average the nearest planet to Uranus?

[Tarquin Thunderthighs lll]

It can be a problem.

[Mince]

[Diane: Tarks started this!]

Did you know that Uranus is huge and you can see it with the naked eye?

Did you know that Uranus is full of gas and produces a lot of wind?

Did you also know that Voyager 2 took loads of photos of Uranus in 1986 and now the EU want to probe it?

[Tarquin Thunderthighs lll]

[Diane: Tarks started this!]

Moot point. I think, in fact, it was Diane.

[Roger Kettle]

On Sunday morning, I will be travelling above the Earth for about three hours before touching down in Faro, Portugal. The temperature is predicted to be 27 degrees. I have no idea what the temperature on Uranus is.

[Mince]

I have no idea what the temperature on Uranus is.

That depends on whether the sun shines out of it.

[Tarquin Thunderthighs lll]

Okay - I'll give you that. 

[Roger Kettle]

I have no idea what the temperature on Uranus is.

That depends on whether the sun shines out of it.

I'd hoped to avoid stuff like that by saying "ON Uranus" rather than "IN Uranus".

[Mince]

I'd hoped to avoid stuff like that by saying "ON Uranus" rather than "IN Uranus".

Ah, I misread. I doubt Uranus gets to see much light, but if Uranus had a black hole in it, that would change things.

[Tarquin Thunderthighs lll]

Please stop. Stop now.