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My favorite part of this experience was seeing it “turn” above my head. I was finally able to truly visualize from a first person POV, the sign wave I had previ
by consumer451 6y ago
My favorite part of this experience was seeing it “turn” above my head. I was finally able to truly visualize from a first person POV, the sign wave I had previous seen on Mercator orbital projections... as seen on the wall of the classic NASA control room view.
It honestly felt like I was able to visualize a whole new dimension.
- crubier 6y agoI trust that you thought you saw that, but bear in mind that satellite do NOT turn at all. The turns you see on Mercator projections are just that: projection artifacts. Circular low earth orbits (like the ISS) are great circles on the sphere. (The equator line is a great circle for example, but there an infinity of them, with various inclinations) The turn that you think you saw in real life is just a combination of perspective, optical illusion due to landscape or objects in your field of view, and your mental model of orbits making turns (which they don’t).
- consumer451 6y agoI fully understand that. It is why I put the word turn in quotes. Apparently I could have made that more clear. This was just a first-hand experience of the illusion that we experience of living on a flat plane being shattered.