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That’s actually fairly common. The really unsettling question is “why is the moon exactly the same size in the sky as the sun?”. A little bit smaller and we wou

That’s actually fairly common. The really unsettling question is “why is the moon exactly the same size in the sky as the sun?”. A little bit smaller and we wouldn’t see full solar eclipses, a little bit bigger and we wouldn’t see the suns corona during an eclipse. Another unsettling feature is that the moon is moving further away from the earth so in a few million years’ time, we won’t even have full solar eclipses. So now what are the chances that in the 4B years the earth’s been around, we’re alive at the relatively short time period that we can witness this earth/moon/sun relationship?

permo-w 4y ago
chances are if weren’t in that phase, there would be some other phenomena we’d be observing in awe and feeling special about it
- deanCommie 4y ago
  Exactly :) https://numbergenerator.org/randomnumbergenerator/1-1000000000 https://numbergenerator.org/randomnumbergenerator/1-10000000... Wow! 197100522! (what i got on my first hit) Out of all the possible numbers, what are the odds? 1 in a billion! Two consecutive 0's! And two consecutive twos! What do you think they mean? And 5 in between? Well 5 times 2 is 10 which ends in a 0. But it starts with 1971, which is only 1 year off from the start of Unix time, which can't be a coincidence! etc.
  - vkou 4y ago
    Not to mention that it contains the digits of 1215 - the year of Magna Carta.
  - lsllc 4y ago
    That's my lotto number, how did you get that?
quectophoton 4y ago
> The really unsettling question is “why is the moon exactly the same size in the sky as the sun?” Can't wait until the moment in the future where DISTANCE_FROM_EARTH_TO_MOON / DISTANCE_FROM_EARTH_TO_SUN = FINE_STRUCTURED_CONSTANT
dwaltrip 4y ago
Shooting from the hip… But I bet it’s actually not that crazy rare for moons and suns to be a similar size in the sky of world that could harbor life. Factors at play: habitatal zones of different stars, the size of those stars, and the distribution of moon sizes for planets that could harbor life.
sebastianconcpt 4y ago
Do you have a source to reference for that "fairly common"? If it's common, then what commonality causes that outcome?
- iamphilrae 4y ago
  Tidal locking is common. The moon being visually the same size as the sun is not.

permo-w 4y ago

chances are if weren’t in that phase, there would be some other phenomena we’d be observing in awe and feeling special about it

deanCommie 4y ago
Exactly :) https://numbergenerator.org/randomnumbergenerator/1-1000000000 https://numbergenerator.org/randomnumbergenerator/1-10000000... Wow! 197100522! (what i got on my first hit) Out of all the possible numbers, what are the odds? 1 in a billion! Two consecutive 0's! And two consecutive twos! What do you think they mean? And 5 in between? Well 5 times 2 is 10 which ends in a 0. But it starts with 1971, which is only 1 year off from the start of Unix time, which can't be a coincidence! etc.
- vkou 4y ago
  Not to mention that it contains the digits of 1215 - the year of Magna Carta.
- lsllc 4y ago
  That's my lotto number, how did you get that?

quectophoton 4y ago

> The really unsettling question is “why is the moon exactly the same size in the sky as the sun?” Can't wait until the moment in the future where DISTANCE_FROM_EARTH_TO_MOON / DISTANCE_FROM_EARTH_TO_SUN = FINE_STRUCTURED_CONSTANT

dwaltrip 4y ago

Shooting from the hip… But I bet it’s actually not that crazy rare for moons and suns to be a similar size in the sky of world that could harbor life. Factors at play: habitatal zones of different stars, the size of those stars, and the distribution of moon sizes for planets that could harbor life.

sebastianconcpt 4y ago

Do you have a source to reference for that "fairly common"? If it's common, then what commonality causes that outcome?

iamphilrae 4y ago
Tidal locking is common. The moon being visually the same size as the sun is not.