Logarithmic Map of the Universe

(6 votes, average: 3.50 out of 5)

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Posted in Images on December 14th, 2007 by deuce | Report This Post |

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8 Responses to Logarithmic Map of the Universe

hepathos (UID# 719) 0 0
December 14, 2007 at 10:08 am

Now I understand EVERYTHING!

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izombie (UID# 1147) 0 0
December 14, 2007 at 12:17 pm

Quick question. Why is the earth closer to the Sun than to Venus?

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reboot (UID# 436) 0 0
December 14, 2007 at 12:40 pm

@iZombie,
Probably because its an average distance. Distance between Earth and Sun is always 1 AU, but distance between Earth and Venus varies between about .3 AU and 1.7 AU depending on relative orbital position. If Venus spends more time on the “far” side of the Sun then the average would come to more that 1 AU.

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reboot (UID# 436) 0 0
December 14, 2007 at 12:52 pm

Actually we can go a bit further and use the law of cosines to show that anytime the Earth-Sun-Venus angle is greater the 69.5 degrees, then the distance between Earth and Venus will be greater than 1 AU. So Venus does not even need to be on the “far side” of the sun for the distance to be greater than the Sun.

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izombie (UID# 1147) 0 0
December 14, 2007 at 1:07 pm

Thank you! I just spent the last couple hours reading as much a could on wikipedia regarding this. Your explanation was far easier to understand and more to the point.

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deuce (UID# 933) 0 0
December 14, 2007 at 1:47 pm

I think at the time the map was made, Venus was, in fact, farther from us than the Sun was. It’s what happens sometimes when things orbit

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deuce (UID# 933) 0 0
December 14, 2007 at 1:49 pm

Oops… shouldn’t reply to old comments unless I refresh the page for new comments…

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reboot (UID# 436) 0 0
December 14, 2007 at 2:13 pm

@iZombie,
No problem, it was an interesting, non-obvious question.

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