tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post3100860999370529436..comments2024-03-28T23:22:41.774-05:00Comments on TYWKIWDBI ("Tai-Wiki-Widbee"): All the planets would fit between the earth and the moonMinnesotastanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382888179579245181noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-4277235859153587992014-12-30T12:33:16.879-06:002014-12-30T12:33:16.879-06:00I'm not sure about gas giants, but I recall fr...I'm not sure about gas giants, but I recall from my astrophysics course that the "surface" (maybe diameter is a better word) of stars is typically measured by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosphere" rel="nofollow">photosphere</a>. That is the region that would just barely allow you to see a laser shined from behind the sun toward the earth. <br /><br />I wouldn't be surprised if a similar method is used for gas giants although I cannot easily verify this. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter#Atmosphere" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia offers an answer that agrees with Roy above</a>. The rather oddly phrased "the base of its atmosphere is usually considered to be ..." which isn't exactly the same thing as diameter (although the error is likely exceedingly small).<br /><br />You are exactly right to say that there is only a gradual diminishing and not a clear edge. There are those who argue that the diameter of the sun should be considered to extend all the way out to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliosphere#Heliopause" rel="nofollow">heliopause</a>. And while common sense seems to argue against them I cannot say that they are exactly wrong. nolanddahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12708768497461983779noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-50284358228999958732014-12-24T21:07:19.354-06:002014-12-24T21:07:19.354-06:00I agree. According to this book I have...
"...I agree. According to this book I have...<br /><br />"Space," it says, "is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mindbogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space, listen..."Minnesotastanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01382888179579245181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-77680854549038056142014-12-24T18:39:00.932-06:002014-12-24T18:39:00.932-06:00Every time I see this illustration I like to remin...Every time I see this illustration I like to remind myself that the diameter of the sun is 1,391,684 km...<br /><br />In other words, the whole conga line of planets can fit inside the sun over 3 and a half times.<br /><br />The universe is big...Ianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12937705848911696714noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-41544159313740042852014-12-23T01:15:31.561-06:002014-12-23T01:15:31.561-06:00Or, as I put it in a song a few years ago:
The gr...Or, as I put it in a <a href="http://outerhoard.wordpress.com/2011/01/21/flock-of-worlds/" rel="nofollow">song</a> a few years ago:<br /><br /><i>The greatest of the planets are made of gas<br />You could drop the earth in like throwing out trash<br />We’d sink through the clouds then far below<br />There’s a dense kind of fluid like nothing you know.</i><br /><br />Not relevant to determining a gas giant's diameter, though.Adrian Morganhttp://outerhoard.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-81461951482400545642014-12-23T00:40:52.151-06:002014-12-23T00:40:52.151-06:00Jupiter (for example) is not merely a solid surrou...Jupiter (for example) is not merely a solid surrounded by gas--its core (which is hardly a regular solid, and we know little about it) is surrounded by supercritical fluid, which is not the same thing as gas. There is no point at which it clearly transitions from gas to liquid, making the surface of gas giants more like a thermally complex ocean.<br /><br />More here:<br /><br />http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/77674/how-does-one-calculate-where-the-surface-of-a-gas-giant-would-beJames Cominshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17988734252520359140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-5136098613752319802014-12-22T16:51:31.753-06:002014-12-22T16:51:31.753-06:00Mind=blownMind=blownAritê gunê Akasahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03619166885106439477noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-9584735067351713852014-12-22T15:08:42.897-06:002014-12-22T15:08:42.897-06:00Gas giants are measured based on the altitude wher...Gas giants are measured based on the altitude where the pressure from the gas equals 1 Earth atmosphere (1 atm = the atmospheric pressure at sea level at 0 degrees C), or 101.325 kPa.Royhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09110900165910048617noreply@blogger.com