Planetary Poll

Can You Fit Every Planet In The Solar System Between the Earth And The Moon?

Yes
6
43%
No
8
57%
 
Total votes: 14
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Rudi
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Planetary Poll

Post by Rudi »

No cheating now... :cranky:
First poll, then look at the answer...

Answer:
Spoiler
Yes
Planets.jpg
Diameters of Planets
--------------------------
Mercury: 4,879
Venus: 12,104
Mars: 6,771
Jupiter: 139,822
Saturn: 116,464
Uranus: 50,724
Neptune: 49,244
================
Total: 380,008

The average distance from the Earth to the Moon is 384,400 km. That leaves us with 4,392 km to spare.
So what could we do with the rest of that distance? Well, we could obviously fit Pluto into that slot. It's around 2,300 km across.

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Rudi

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HansV
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Re: Planetary Poll

Post by HansV »

I answered correctly, but...
Spoiler
The fit is even closer than I thought...
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BobH
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Re: Planetary Poll

Post by BobH »

Your solution is incorrect, Rudi!

You left something out.
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StuartR
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Re: Planetary Poll

Post by StuartR »

I got this one wrong. Interesting
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Rudi
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Re: Planetary Poll

Post by Rudi »

BobH wrote:Your solution is incorrect, Rudi!

You left something out.
Pluto?
I know there is a bit of discrepency regarding the miles/kms values in the image compared to the values in the tables...
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Rudi

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BobH
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Re: Planetary Poll

Post by BobH »

I'm quite saturnine about it.

It doesn't ring true.
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Skitterbug
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Re: Planetary Poll

Post by Skitterbug »

I answered correctly but only because I guessed! :grin: I know the planets in the solar system but when it comes to distances between them or what they measure, I don't have a clue! The poll and resulting discussions are interesting! :thankyou:
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viking33
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Re: Planetary Poll

Post by viking33 »

But of course! A little tight but doable. Should be able to even squeeze in Pluto and that other little newbie out there.
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BobH
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Re: Planetary Poll

Post by BobH »

The rings are very much a part of Saturn. If the planet had been placed with the rings as the diameter, would they still fit between Earth and its moon?
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Rudi
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Re: Planetary Poll

Post by Rudi »

We've all see it before...but it never gets boring... (IMHO)
The scale of VY Canis Majoris is just to mind blowing to not be awe stricken by it!!!
Earth vs Sun vs Star.jpg
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HansV
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Re: Planetary Poll

Post by HansV »

BobH wrote:The rings are very much a part of Saturn. If the planet had been placed with the rings as the diameter, would they still fit between Earth and its moon?
As you can see from the picture in Rudi's post, it wouldn't fit if you placed Saturn with its rings horizontally.
Moreover, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune also have rings, although they are much less bright than those of Saturn...

On the other hand, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune consist mostly of gas (hydrogen and helium), and the rings are permeable, so one could "easily" compress them a bit... :evilgrin:
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Rudi
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Re: Planetary Poll

Post by Rudi »

I'd would, in my amateurish way, disagree that the rings are "part" of the planet. They are in orbit around the planet, but do not contribute to the overall diameter of the actual planet. If you takes the rings away, it does not alter/affect the planets diameter. Another argument; think of all the space junk orbiting our planet. Granted that it is certainly not enough to make up a ring of debris, but the junk is not seen as part of Earth.
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DaveA
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Re: Planetary Poll

Post by DaveA »

That means that moon is part of Earth, so now how do we include the other planets?
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Claude
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Re: Planetary Poll

Post by Claude »

How long till Richard Branson offers cheap flights to VY Canis Majoris ? I'm ready to put the deposit down :smile:
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GeoffW
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Re: Planetary Poll

Post by GeoffW »

Claude wrote: I'm ready to put the deposit down :smile:
Diarrhoea?
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Jay Freedman
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Re: Planetary Poll

Post by Jay Freedman »

The solution Rudi pointed to isn't correct.

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_distance_(astronomy), the figure of 384,400 km is the distance between the centers of the Earth and Moon, not between their surfaces. The sum of the radii of the Earth and Moon is 8108 km, making the surface-to-surface distance 376,292 km -- not quite enough to fit all the other planets, even without Pluto. :evilgrin:
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Rudi
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Re: Planetary Poll

Post by Rudi »

Well...that just threw a spanner in the works!
However, it shouldn't be too difficult to squeeze them in as the four big ones are just gas and could be forced in with a few extra nudges. :bash:
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Rudi

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GeoffW
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Re: Planetary Poll

Post by GeoffW »

Huh. We can't even squeeze the gas from threads in Scuttlebutt.
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