Saturday, March 12, 2011

Distances in Space...and Ultrarunning

Bad Astronomy doesn't disappoint, as usual.  From a Phil Plait post on 24 Feb:

How far away is the moon?  I’m sometimes asked what’s the one thing I wish people would understand better about the Universe. My answer is always the same: scale. We humans have a miserable sense of just how big space is, and I’ve spent a lot of time over the years working out ways to express it better.

Most people don’t really grasp just how far away the Moon is, and it’s the closest astronomical object in the sky!

Phil then helpfully embedded this video to show the relationship:



 
I run about a hundred miles a month (I am busy, and can train low and still run LONG on race day).  Astronomical distances utterly fascinate me and I can't get enough of trying to understand such vast scales.
 

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