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This exact reasoning is why I've always been kind of annoyed by the song Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe by Kendrick Lamar. In the chorus he goes "I can feel your ener

This exact reasoning is why I've always been kind of annoyed by the song Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe by Kendrick Lamar. In the chorus he goes "I can feel your energy from two planets away" and even though I know art doesn't have to conform to scientific reality, poetry and music almost especially, it ALWAYS bugged me from the first time I heard it til today. Like what does 2 planets away even mean? that's a hugely variable distance.

hinkley 3y ago
We're heading for Venus And still, we stand tall 'Cause maybe they've seen us And welcome us all, yeah With so many lightyears to go And things to be found I'm sure that we'll all miss her, so It’s the final countdown Someone’s science teacher knows who was too busy writing lyrics in class to learn about outer space…
- VincentEvans 3y ago
  Venus is just the first stop, duh.
olddustytrail 3y ago
Heh, reminds me of the Simon Singh criticism of Katie Melua's "Nine Million Bicycles". Which she followed up on https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=21iUUe-W8L4 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=21iUUe-W8L4
yazantapuz 3y ago
It means that is a huge distance, in human terms. Hugely variable, but huge at the end.
zuminator 3y ago
Haha that's an interesting question. I'm figuring that the closest "2 planets away" would be the canonical distance between Earth and Mercury, ie 57 million miles (92 million km). But it's the other extreme that's more interesting. Let's say that for a planet to be the "next" planet over at any given time, it has to be the closest one... by direct line measurement, not by orbit. So for Earth, the next planet over could be at any given time Mercury, Venus or Mars. The most isolated Earth can be from all other planets would be when the planet that is closest to us at a given moment is as far away is it can be. That turns out to be Mercury, whose maximal distance is about 138 million miles away (222 million km). There's always going to be a planet that is that distance to us or closer. So imagine that Mars happens to be 137 million miles from us while Mercury and Venus are both at least 138 million miles away. That would make Mars the "next" planet over. Then the "next" planet over from Mars could be either Venus or Mercury. If we're assuming Mars is as isolated as possible than the next closest planet besides Earth would be Mercury which at its furtherst could be at most 198 million miles away (319 million km). Thus, ignoring trigonometry which would put a constraint on the Mercury-Mars leg of the triangle, two planets away from us could be at most 336 million miles (540 million km) away. So between 57 and 336 million miles is your answer.
hulahoof 3y ago
I always assumed this line uses the traditional order of planets from the sun and referenced the common trope that "Men are from Mars, Women from Venus".
- ryanmcbride 3y ago
  This is the first thing I've heard that makes any real artistic sense. I'm gonna give it another listen, thank you.

hinkley 3y ago

We're heading for Venus And still, we stand tall 'Cause maybe they've seen us And welcome us all, yeah With so many lightyears to go And things to be found I'm sure that we'll all miss her, so It’s the final countdown Someone’s science teacher knows who was too busy writing lyrics in class to learn about outer space…

VincentEvans 3y ago
Venus is just the first stop, duh.

olddustytrail 3y ago

Heh, reminds me of the Simon Singh criticism of Katie Melua's "Nine Million Bicycles". Which she followed up on https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=21iUUe-W8L4 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=21iUUe-W8L4

yazantapuz 3y ago

It means that is a huge distance, in human terms. Hugely variable, but huge at the end.

zuminator 3y ago

Haha that's an interesting question. I'm figuring that the closest "2 planets away" would be the canonical distance between Earth and Mercury, ie 57 million miles (92 million km). But it's the other extreme that's more interesting. Let's say that for a planet to be the "next" planet over at any given time, it has to be the closest one... by direct line measurement, not by orbit. So for Earth, the next planet over could be at any given time Mercury, Venus or Mars. The most isolated Earth can be from all other planets would be when the planet that is closest to us at a given moment is as far away is it can be. That turns out to be Mercury, whose maximal distance is about 138 million miles away (222 million km). There's always going to be a planet that is that distance to us or closer. So imagine that Mars happens to be 137 million miles from us while Mercury and Venus are both at least 138 million miles away. That would make Mars the "next" planet over. Then the "next" planet over from Mars could be either Venus or Mercury. If we're assuming Mars is as isolated as possible than the next closest planet besides Earth would be Mercury which at its furtherst could be at most 198 million miles away (319 million km). Thus, ignoring trigonometry which would put a constraint on the Mercury-Mars leg of the triangle, two planets away from us could be at most 336 million miles (540 million km) away. So between 57 and 336 million miles is your answer.

hulahoof 3y ago

I always assumed this line uses the traditional order of planets from the sun and referenced the common trope that "Men are from Mars, Women from Venus".

ryanmcbride 3y ago
This is the first thing I've heard that makes any real artistic sense. I'm gonna give it another listen, thank you.