I love calculating scale sizes & distances. A while ago I built a "scale model solar system" Excel spreadsheet that allows you to enter the scale size of Earth and then have pretty much everything else in the solar system (and a few other things) calculated in terms of their size, speed and distance at that scale. It's only 46kb. It's kind of fun to play with, and makes a dandy teaching tool. If anyone wants a copy to fool around with I'd be happy to share. Seth Jarvis Clark Planetarium sjarvis@slco.org -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Brent Watson Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2012 11:25 AM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Today's XKCD. Yes, that is about .4 inches. The moon on that scale would be 21 feet 4 inches away. From: Daniel Holmes <danielh@holmesonics.com> To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2012 10:55 AM Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Today's XKCD. Hubble's around 354 miles though... Dan On Jun 27, 2012, at 10:36 AM, Brent Watson wrote:
Actually, using a standad 9.5 inch basketball the distance would only be slightly more than 1/4 inch. That assumes a space station height of 230 miles.
From: Daniel Holmes <danielh@holmesonics.com> To: Utah-astronomy Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2012 9:55 AM Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Today's XKCD.
I found the alt-text interesting...if the earth was the size of a basketball, no human in 40 years has been more than a half inch from the surface. Puts the orbit of the space shuttle and ISS into perspective.
Dan
-- Daniel Holmes, danielh@holmesonics.com "Laugh while you can, monkey boy!" -- Lord John Whorfin
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-- Daniel Holmes, danielh@holmesonics.com "Laugh while you can, monkey boy!" -- Lord John Whorfin _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Send messages to the list to Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com The Utah-Astronomy mailing list is not affiliated with any astronomy club. To unsubscribe go to: http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Then enter your email address in the space provided and click on "Unsubscribe or edit options". _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Send messages to the list to Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com The Utah-Astronomy mailing list is not affiliated with any astronomy club. To unsubscribe go to: http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Then enter your email address in the space provided and click on "Unsubscribe or edit options".