this post was submitted on 06 Apr 2024
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Astronomy

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

No, it’s a mystical religious sign. Aren’t you paying attention?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

There are certain aspects of it that look more complicated than they are because you are seeing it as a representation on a flat map. It makes a lot more sense when you see it on a globe with all the pieces moving in 3d space.

https://youtu.be/ujYYlXP12m4

It is complicated because there are tilts to the earths rotation and a tilt to the moon's orbit, but people thousands of years ago figured it out, so it's solvable.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

So you want to be a computer algorithm?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

Are you so deeply entrenched in modern technology that you cannot fathom that a human could comprehend and map future astronomical patterns?

Humans have been doing this since early records of humankind on earth. Loooooong before computers existed. Computers have only been around the last few decades.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

When I was a kid my parents bought me a book called "practical astronomy with your calculator" that went over all the workings and formulae for calculating eclipses, moon phases, locations of the planets and heaps more. If you want to get into it I highly recommend this book or something similar.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

BTW the book was by Peter Duffett-Smith if that helps.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Is London in the eclipse zone?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

No—this is a good resource for finding the next one closest to you. https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/list.html

If you’re in Europe, northern Spain in 2026 is the next best opportunity.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Yesss. I waaaaant it in my mind and in my souuuuuul.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Fun Fact:

They discovered Neptune by math. They studied the orbit of Uranus and noticed anomalies in the mavity, so they postulated there must be another planet. Using math, calculated it's path, aimed their telescopes, and voila, Neptune.

I am terrible at math, so I can't explain how it works. But it's all about physics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_mechanics is probably a good start.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Me too! Always wanted to get into, thinking it worthwhile to have a running solar system or celestial model on your own machine that you know how to operate etc. Just never really tried sadly!

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I used Stellarium today to see how the eclipse would look from my location, highly recommend it if you want to start playing

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

Oh yea I’ve used it and from memory it’s awesome as you say. I was more talking about getting into the technical details of running a model and calculating various things of personal interest.

Thanks for the recommendation though!

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I'm pretty sure they just hold up a tennis ball and shine a flashlight on a globe, its not rocket surgery

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago
[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

I've heard from a government authority that the eclipse path is determined by how gay we are.