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BadAstronomer's profile
Phil Plait
Phil Plait
Phil Plait
Verified account
@BadAstronomer

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Phil PlaitVerified account

@BadAstronomer

SCIENCE! I love this stuff. My Bad Astronomy blog: https://www.syfy.com/badastronomy  I use "likes" for bookmarks. No endorsement implied.

Boulder
about.me/philplait
Joined April 2007

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    Phil Plait‏Verified account @BadAstronomer Jan 2

    Hey, perihelion — when Earth is closest to the Sun in its elliptical orbit — occurs tonight at 05:19 UTC (12:19 a.m. Eastern US time)! We’ll be a few million km closer to the Sun the at aphelion (farthest point), but you’d hardly notice.

    5:06 pm - 2 Jan 2019
    • 389 Retweets
    • 908 Likes
    • Maddie Wolf Akhil Garg Avi Ale Julian maria Cameron Kraft Hossein Gharibi PieperGroundCrew Kani✨
    23 replies . 389 retweets 908 likes
      1. New conversation
      2. Phil Plait‏Verified account @BadAstronomer Jan 2

        Seriously, the Earth’s orbit is so close to a circle it’s hard to tell. Here’s proof: One of these is a circle, the other is an ellipse the shape of Earth’s orbit. Which is which?pic.twitter.com/QXmPGURo7v

        72 replies . 142 retweets 543 likes
        Show this thread
      3. Phil Plait‏Verified account @BadAstronomer Jan 2

        (heh. Replies are split, but more people are getting it right than wrong)

        3 replies . 8 retweets 57 likes
        Show this thread
      4. Phil Plait‏Verified account @BadAstronomer Jan 2

        The circle is on the left, the ellipse on the right. I think I can tell, but barely. The change in distance means a change in incoming sunlight, which changes the Earth’s temperature, right? Well…

        11 replies . 12 retweets 112 likes
        Show this thread
      5. Phil Plait‏Verified account @BadAstronomer Jan 2

        The temperature difference, from physics, is about 2°C. But it’s way more complicated than that. Oceans in southern hemisphere absorb a lot of it, so temp swings are minimized, for example.

        2 replies . 24 retweets 101 likes
        Show this thread
      6. Phil Plait‏Verified account @BadAstronomer Jan 2

        I’ve written about this here: https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/perihelion-2016 … Our axial tilt drives the seasons far, far more than the ellipticity of Earth’s orbit. Here’s the math, on my ancient website (translated from cuneiform): http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/seasons.html …

        21 replies . 51 retweets 201 likes
        Show this thread
      7. Phil Plait‏Verified account @BadAstronomer Jan 2

        So enjoy the very slightly larger appearing Sun! Perihelion won’t be around for another year… when the Earth itself comes around again.

        8 replies . 18 retweets 120 likes
        Show this thread
      8. End of conversation
      1. New conversation
      2. Tony Dunn‏ @tony873004 Jan 2
        Replying to @BadAstronomer

        Tony Dunn Retweeted Tony Dunn

        An animation of the Sun's "changing" size.https://twitter.com/tony873004/status/1080626823543705600 …

        Tony Dunn added,

        Tony Dunn @tony873004
        Happy #perihelion! Hard to believe, but Earth is at its closest to the Sun now! Here's how the apparent size of the Sun changes with time. pic.twitter.com/9mJoDDW9de
        1 reply . 4 retweets 23 likes
      3. Phil Plait‏Verified account @BadAstronomer Jan 2
        Replying to @tony873004

        That’s vaguely disturbing.

        2 replies . 0 retweets 12 likes
      4. K Peter Krog‏ @kpeterkrog Jan 2
        Replying to @BadAstronomer @tony873004

        It probably doesn't do it that fast in real life.

        1 reply . 0 retweets 8 likes
      5. Tony Dunn‏ @tony873004 Jan 2
        Replying to @kpeterkrog @BadAstronomer

        Yes, its fast forward, but the calendar is shown on the animation.

        2 replies . 0 retweets 2 likes
      6. K Peter Krog‏ @kpeterkrog Jan 2
        Replying to @tony873004 @BadAstronomer

        I know. Bad joke.

        1 reply . 0 retweets 4 likes
      7. Amanda  💧‏ @AmandaTear Jan 2
        Replying to @kpeterkrog @tony873004 @BadAstronomer

        I laughed if it makes you feel any better

        0 replies . 0 retweets 2 likes
      8. End of conversation
      1. New conversation
      2. KJ‏ @leftybrain Jan 2
        Replying to @BadAstronomer

        If I had solar, would I notice any improved output? Or is it too minuscule to measure.

        1 reply . 0 retweets 1 like
      3. Phil Plait‏Verified account @BadAstronomer Jan 2
        Replying to @leftybrain

        Maaaaaybe. But it would be hard to measure given daily variations in air transparency. Maybe using lots of panels scattered across a large area, and using a very long time baseline.

        0 replies . 0 retweets 10 likes
      4. End of conversation
      1. New conversation
      2. Tim Dole‏ @MadSaint Jan 2
        Replying to @BadAstronomer

        This makes me want to clean out the boxes in my garage and find my old 3rd year Geodesy notes from my classes with the late great Prof Norm Edwards and Rod Deakin from RMIT. It was the most intriguing subject, with ridiculous mathematical solutions.

        1 reply . 0 retweets 0 likes
      3. Phil Plait‏Verified account @BadAstronomer Jan 2
        Replying to @MadSaint

        I’ve always wanted to take a celestial navigation class from an expert. The trig is fun, and I already have a decent head start on the math, geometry, and astronomy.

        1 reply . 0 retweets 3 likes
      4. Tim Dole‏ @MadSaint Jan 2
        Replying to @BadAstronomer

        RMIT in Melb Australia will have a contact for Rod Deakin. He is a brilliant mathematical exponent of this discipline but also a happy to converse with all and sundry. He once presented a paper that involved his email exchange with the descendents of numerous maths geniuses.

        0 replies . 0 retweets 1 like
      5. End of conversation
      1. New conversation
      2. Flat Earth‏ @FlatEarthTshirt Jan 2
        Replying to @BadAstronomer

        Earth is Flat

        1 reply . 1 retweet 4 likes
      3. albundy737‏ @albundyECCIE Jan 2
        Replying to @FlatEarthTshirt @BadAstronomer

        I know you’re just a joke page, but I find it amazing there are people that really believe that shit. They think we’re on a frisbee or something. And for some mysterious reason, the Government is conspiring to make us think that the world is round. Because, well, just because.

        1 reply . 0 retweets 0 likes
      4. Flat Earth‏ @FlatEarthTshirt Jan 3
        Replying to @albundyECCIE

        pic.twitter.com/kM3E8NyS7v

        0 replies . 0 retweets 0 likes
      5. End of conversation

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