17,930,435,000 km from home

Skybird · 12-03-11, 07:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vendor

i know...but you express yourself, in a way that a teacher would have done,

Since it takes about 8 minutes for the light from the Sun to reach us, then when we point at where we see the Sun, we are actually pointing to where it was 8 minutes ago.

So the sun revolves around the Earth now?

Since I assume you do not refer to the galactic parallax movement, or even just the movement of solar system inside this one galaxy, but refer to the relative position changes of Earth compared to the sun, it might be more precise to point out that the Earth has moved so and so far in its orbit around the Sun in those 8 minutes (speed the slower the more distant from the sun it currently is), and that we do see the sun in the state it was in 8 minutes ago. Eyes are a time machine, the more distant an object is that we look at, the longer backwards in time we watch. In principle, we never see with our eyes the real, immediate "present".

I can be a smartass, I know.

Quote:

The average distance between the earth and the sun is approximately 150,000,000 kilometers. So lets do the math: (150,000,000km)/(300,000km/s) = (500s)/(60s/m) = 8.3 minutes
Keep in mind the distance between the earth and the sun is not constant, the orbit is elliptical so sometimes its longer and sometimes its shorter.Light given off by the Sun has traveled about 300,000 km. Even so, this light has not reached Earth yet. The distance from the Sun to Earth is about "8 light-minutes". Light-minutes sounds more like a time measurement instead of distance, but it means the distance that light travels in a period of 8 minutes. At a speed of 300,000 km/sec, light would travel about 149 million kilometers in 8 minutes.

Which is a statement about distance, as I said, and still not about time taken.

Gerald · 12-03-11, 08:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skybird

So the sun revolves around the Earth now?

Since I assume you do not refer to the galactic parallax movement, or even just the movement of solar system inside this one galaxy, but refer to the relative position changes of Earth compared to the sun, it might be more precise to point out that the Earth has moved so and so far in its orbit around the Sun in those 8 minutes (speed the slower the more distant from the sun it currently is), and that we do see the sun in the state it was in 8 minutes ago. Eyes are a time machine, the more distant an object is that we look at, the longer backwards in time we watch. In principle, we never see with our eyes the real, immediate "present".

I can be a smartass, I know.

Which is a statement about distance, as I said, and still not about time taken.

I hope ya have plenty of time, this could take some time...

.....I be back

Skybird · 12-03-11, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vendor

I hope ya have plenty of time, this could take some time...

.....I be back

No need to spend time on it, Vendor! Believe me - lightyears (ly) or lightdays or lightseconds are used as a distance unit in any astronomical science book you could think of. It is established nomenclatura. No need to debate anything there!

Gerald · 12-03-11, 08:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skybird

No need to spend time on it, Vendor! Believe me - lightyears (ly) or lightdays or lightseconds are used as a distance unit in any astronomical science book you could think of. It is established nomenclatura. No need to debate anything there!

My latter comment was more directed as a joke, I have the picture clear....and understand the theoretical part, without being "smartass"

TLAM Strike · 12-03-11, 09:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vendor

...and understand the theoretical part, without being "smartass"

Better a Smartass than a Dumbass.

Gerald · 12-03-11, 09:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TLAM Strike

Better a Smartass than a Dumbass.

Gargamel · 12-03-11, 09:54 PM

I like how they discovered the anomaly a while back, where the voyager probes were not where they were supposed to be. Theories abounded about how the current theories on solar winds werre wrong, or there was an unseen border force slowing the craft.

Turned out the nuclear power cells were heating the leading edges of the craft a little more than the trailing ones, and that very slight radiation of energy slowed the craft enough to have physicists pulling their hair out for years. Apparently it took some deep computer modelling to figure it out.

Space.com probably has some good links on it.

12-03-11, 09:54 PM	#7
Gargamel Lucky Sailor Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Rome Posts: 4,273 Downloads: 81 Uploads: 0	I like how they discovered the anomaly a while back, where the voyager probes were not where they were supposed to be. Theories abounded about how the current theories on solar winds werre wrong, or there was an unseen border force slowing the craft. Turned out the nuclear power cells were heating the leading edges of the craft a little more than the trailing ones, and that very slight radiation of energy slowed the craft enough to have physicists pulling their hair out for years. Apparently it took some deep computer modelling to figure it out. Space.com probably has some good links on it. __________________ Luck is a residue of Design.