9 ms·

Is the text in the pictures German? Or do they localize the pictures? Either way, one thing about astronomy I find really fascinating is how people are able to

by krylon 8y ago

Is the text in the pictures German? Or do they localize the pictures? Either way, one thing about astronomy I find really fascinating is how people are able to figure out so much from so little data[0]. The amount of head scratching and the number of sleepless nights spent trying to make sense of what little data is available must be almost as mind-bending as the stellar bodies astronomers study. [0] "little" compared to what we could gather if we could just hop aboard the good old Enterprise and jet over to a couple of nearby stars, or at least take a quick field trip to Neptune...

lisper 8y ago
Well, we have taken a couple of field trips to Neptune (and a bit beyond), but your point is well taken. It really is extraordinary how much the human mind can encompass. https://futurism.com/earth-compared-to-the-universe/ https://futurism.com/earth-compared-to-the-universe/ http://thirdmonk.net/lifestyle/our-sun-compared-to-the-largest-star-ever-discovered-video.html http://thirdmonk.net/lifestyle/our-sun-compared-to-the-large...
- krylon 8y ago
  Well, yes, but we sent probes to Jupiter and Saturn that spent years exploring them and their moons. And I would really like to know why Uranus' axis of rotation and its magnetic field are so weird. Wouldn't you?
  - lisper 8y ago
    Oh, I see, you want Neptune and Uranus orbiters. That's not what I thought you meant when you said "quick field trip to Neptune." Yeah, I'd love to have those orbiters. And a Europa lander. And a pony. But I'll settle for getting the damn Webb launched.
    - krylon 8y ago
      Well, if we could board a shuttle and arrive at a stable orbit around Uranus or Neptuine in less than 12 hours, we would not need an orbiter, would we? In the short term, if Webb got launched, that would be awesome. But in the slightly-longer term, there is so much about Uranus and Neptune to discover, and we haven't done anything on that front. Just consider how much we discovered by sending probes to Jupiter and Saturn. Consider, how there is still to discover on Uranus and Neptune. And tell me you don't want to go there really badly.
magicnubs 8y ago
> Is the text in the pictures German? It's in German for me too
dukoid 8y ago
"Sonne" -> "Sun" "Galaktische Scheibe" -> "galactic disc" "Bulge" -> "bulge"
- krylon 8y ago
  I am a native German speaker, but thanks! :) I just find it curious they would use images with German words on an English-speaking website.
aiyodev 8y ago
What amazes me is how information-dense the universe is. We’re able to do a lot with a little data because we can extract so much information from it.
modzu 8y ago
it was english for me, but badly translated
- sbuttgereit 8y ago
  Yep. This sentence in the first photo caption caught me off guard... "The Milky Way system, called galaxis, resembles a gigantic spiral with an estimated 200 billion stars. One of them is our sun." I've been an avid astronomy nerd since I was 5 (and I'm almost ten times that age now) and never heard the term "galaxis". The only reference I could find on Google was to the highly acclaimed movie of that name: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113140/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113140/ Now I realize they just didn't translate the word "galaxy" when they translated the text to English.
  - krylon 8y ago
    I think "galaxis" is the ancient latin term. Either way, the word "galaxy" is derived from ancient greek and "milky way" is an almost literal translation.
SenHeng 8y ago
I'm honestly surprised how we're enable to determine the shape of our galaxy while being inside it. That must be some crazy level of math going on.
- enriquto 8y ago
  Put it that it does not seem so hard: can you determine the shape of a mostly transparent house that you are currently in?

by krylon 8y ago

lisper 8y ago

Well, we have taken a couple of field trips to Neptune (and a bit beyond), but your point is well taken. It really is extraordinary how much the human mind can encompass. https://futurism.com/earth-compared-to-the-universe/ https://futurism.com/earth-compared-to-the-universe/ http://thirdmonk.net/lifestyle/our-sun-compared-to-the-largest-star-ever-discovered-video.html http://thirdmonk.net/lifestyle/our-sun-compared-to-the-large...

krylon 8y ago
Well, yes, but we sent probes to Jupiter and Saturn that spent years exploring them and their moons. And I would really like to know why Uranus' axis of rotation and its magnetic field are so weird. Wouldn't you?
- lisper 8y ago
  Oh, I see, you want Neptune and Uranus orbiters. That's not what I thought you meant when you said "quick field trip to Neptune." Yeah, I'd love to have those orbiters. And a Europa lander. And a pony. But I'll settle for getting the damn Webb launched.
  - krylon 8y ago
    Well, if we could board a shuttle and arrive at a stable orbit around Uranus or Neptuine in less than 12 hours, we would not need an orbiter, would we? In the short term, if Webb got launched, that would be awesome. But in the slightly-longer term, there is so much about Uranus and Neptune to discover, and we haven't done anything on that front. Just consider how much we discovered by sending probes to Jupiter and Saturn. Consider, how there is still to discover on Uranus and Neptune. And tell me you don't want to go there really badly.

magicnubs 8y ago

> Is the text in the pictures German? It's in German for me too

dukoid 8y ago

"Sonne" -> "Sun" "Galaktische Scheibe" -> "galactic disc" "Bulge" -> "bulge"

krylon 8y ago
I am a native German speaker, but thanks! :) I just find it curious they would use images with German words on an English-speaking website.

aiyodev 8y ago

What amazes me is how information-dense the universe is. We’re able to do a lot with a little data because we can extract so much information from it.

modzu 8y ago

it was english for me, but badly translated

sbuttgereit 8y ago
Yep. This sentence in the first photo caption caught me off guard... "The Milky Way system, called galaxis, resembles a gigantic spiral with an estimated 200 billion stars. One of them is our sun." I've been an avid astronomy nerd since I was 5 (and I'm almost ten times that age now) and never heard the term "galaxis". The only reference I could find on Google was to the highly acclaimed movie of that name: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113140/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113140/ Now I realize they just didn't translate the word "galaxy" when they translated the text to English.
- krylon 8y ago
  I think "galaxis" is the ancient latin term. Either way, the word "galaxy" is derived from ancient greek and "milky way" is an almost literal translation.

SenHeng 8y ago

I'm honestly surprised how we're enable to determine the shape of our galaxy while being inside it. That must be some crazy level of math going on.

enriquto 8y ago
Put it that it does not seem so hard: can you determine the shape of a mostly transparent house that you are currently in?