by florid_snow » Sun Feb 11, 2024 1:21 pm
I've always loved this image, but I feel compelled to make a "well, actually" comment, please forgive me, but I don't think the word "coincidence" is appropriate and instead one could conceivably substitute "inevitable" because of the caveat that we have a Full Moon, not just any moon.
During a full moon, there is no location that a rocket could take-off and have its shadow point elsewhere than towards the full moon, such an occurrence is inevitable, not a coincidence. Even at noon, when you can't see the moon, the shadow will still be pointing in the correct direction. And at sunrise and sunset, the full moon doesn't just "happen" to be on the horizon sometimes, if it is a full moon, it is always on the horizon at sunrise and sunset, by definition. It is impossible for this shadow alignment to be different in a fundamental way during a full moon, no matter what time of day, or latitude of launch, so it is not a coincidence, it is a fun inevitability of geometry and definitions. At least, seems kinda fun to me.
I've always loved this image, but I feel compelled to make a "well, actually" comment, please forgive me, but I don't think the word "coincidence" is appropriate and instead one could conceivably substitute "inevitable" because of the caveat that we have a Full Moon, not just any moon.
During a full moon, there is no location that a rocket could take-off and have its shadow point elsewhere than towards the full moon, such an occurrence is inevitable, not a coincidence. Even at noon, when you can't see the moon, the shadow will still be pointing in the correct direction. And at sunrise and sunset, the full moon doesn't just "happen" to be on the horizon sometimes, if it is a full moon, it is always on the horizon at sunrise and sunset, by definition. It is impossible for this shadow alignment to be different in a fundamental way during a full moon, no matter what time of day, or latitude of launch, so it is not a coincidence, it is a fun inevitability of geometry and definitions. At least, seems kinda fun to me.