Starship Asterisk*

Why is it that all of the distances are given in kilometers?

Is there any legitimate reason why we don't use the measurement system of the US?

The overwhelming majority of the people who view these numbers do not use the metric system.

Granted, someone from another country [i]might[/i] access this page, but do people think that they aren't bright enough to make the conversions themselves?

And, if someone from another country [i]might[/i] access this page, couldn't you at least make the reference in miles with kilometers in parentheses?

I work for a land surveying company. We use rods, acres and chains and have for centuries. However, when working directly with the clients who pay our salaries, out of respect we speak in terms with which they are comfortable. Is this too much to ask?

And, BTW, yes, I do know and am comfortable with the metric system. I would like to know the reason why they do not use our own system.

You are making too many assumptions. If I didn't know you're just being naive I would think you are insulting.

For the record there are many instances in which "miles" are used instead:
http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Aa ... .gov+miles

Whichever is used probably depends on what the source decided to use. Many sources are not from the USA.

Nice way to totally NOT answer the question.

I will not get into discussions over things I DID NOT say. For instance, I never said that miles are NEVER used.

The point remains (unanswered) and, because you seem to need the clarity, in the most recent image of the day, kilometers are used. Why?

Perhaps you just don't know the answer. Why are kilometers used by NASA and the image of the day et al?

Hi Lazarus,

Here is a good information about answer for your question. May be not all the answer are in there but many must be. Enjoy.

http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/sipm.html

I think the reason that kilometers are generally used in references found here is because kilometers are the unit of length in the si system, which is the system that is generally used in most scientific, specifically physics related, calculations. Since we're in America and we're basically the only country that generally operates with our specific units of pounds and miles and what not the responsibility to convert falls on our backs. One of those instances of majority rules.

I still think that you are overly presumptuous and even arrogant in thinking that "someone from another country" only "might" access APOD. I would venture to guess that people from around the world visit APOD just as much as people in the USA. Sweden has a huge population of net users as well as the rest of Europe. Australia too. Japan has a large amount of users and China is becoming more connected very quickly.

In any case, if you want a real answer, just fire an email to one of the APOD guys. It's true, all I can do is guess since I'm not them. What'd you expect? They might even change the article for you. I've noticed they do make edits but this is in the wrong forum so they might not see it, though I don't know their browsing habits at all... there are some strange coincidental edits on APOD and posts made in the APOD discussion forum.

Also, a section of this article might interest you:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Clima ... tric_mixup

STDD
Same Tactics, Different Day

Divide and conquer, and the differences between the KM and the mile have caused the mishap of several space craft.

Dutchman nailed it, its simply because when you do astronomy at least of the quantitative kind you work in SI units generally. Its a lot simpler to do calculations all within the SI framework you don't have to worry about units or conversion factors that way. Some people writing APOD blurbs will go to the effort of converting to imperial measures, I'm not entirely sure why, I'm surprised anyone cares what units APOD descriptions are in. Does it really distract from the pretty picture if you're told it shows something 1.61km or 1 mile across? Or does everything have to be in Imperial? Should we measure distances in miles rather than light years?

Also most astronomers in the world, and therefore most people that make up the APODS are not from the US they have no reason to think that they should convert it into Imperial, they take a bit of time to provide the picture and a description, its up to them to decide what is in the description.

I think it would be interesting to find out where most APOD users come from, perhaps makc has the data somewhere, but I would not be surprised to find that most users are from outside the US.

Yes craterchains, that's exactly what I wanted, the downfall of the imperial system! And in fact I thought that would happen by linking one paragraph of a wiki! Seriously, go fuck yerself.

Haha! I never thought I would actually see someone complaining about the use of international standard units!!

There are two countries in the world that widely use the Imperial system, according to wikipedia.

I think it's about time the US caught up with the rest of the world. Nice page Doum, I thought I remembered hearing this somewhere:

The United States is a charter member of this metric club, having signed the original document back in 1875.

So Lazarus, at the expense of being pedantic, when you say:

Is there any legitimate reason why we don't use the measurement system of the US?

We do.

folks,

either 100...00 meters or 100...00 inches you equally can not picture these numbers in your mind. so why bother? let's just say instead, it's f***ing far

It's just a "game" to many posters, learn the "tactics" of the game and it becomes very clear why we have multiple measuring systems in our modern world.