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> still only a dot with a good ground-based telescope. That gives a pretty good feel for how far away it is!
by mattkrause 3y ago
> still only a dot with a good ground-based telescope.
That gives a pretty good feel for how far away it is!
- ben_w 3y agoWhat? No it doesn’t, you need to know how big it is for that, and most people don’t have a sense of scale that encompasses either the full size of Earth (how far have you tried hiking, even over multiple days? If it was the Pacific Crest Trail congrats but you’re unusual) nor the size range of planets. Most stars (and galaxies) can be described with the same words I just used for Pluto, but stars and galaxies are thousands to trillions of times further away than Pluto.
- mattkrause 3y agoIt's not at all quantitative, obviously, but I think knowing that - Pluto's the size of the moon, more or less. (Or even assuming it's ~Earth-sized), but... - ... can barely be seen from Earth, even with fancy equipment, and - ...The probe is 4x farther away than that. Gives good "distant" vibes in a way that large numbers don't.