How Far Away is the Moon? A Visualization.

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As discussed on a recent episode of the Skeptic's Guide to the Universe, an asteroid named 2005 YU55 whipped past the earth on Nov 8 at about 29,000 mph. At 1,300 ft wide, things wouldn't have been pretty had it hit us. Terrifyingly, the asteroid came so close to our planet that it was within the orbit of the moon!

So did anybody feel the breeze as it passed?

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Tagged Apollo Asteroid Astronomy Earth Moon Scale Space Travel

The Gift of Apollo

Apollo-11
The Sagan Series (pt8)
Produced by Reid Gower - Written and Narrated by Carl Sagan

Alright. I'm sure you folks are tired of all this Halloween nonsense, so let's get back to the business of blogging about this big old world of ours, and some of it's neighbours.

In fact, maybe that's overstating what I'll be doing today. To be honest I have very little to say about the following piece of content, mostly because it already states itself so beautifully. Many astronomy enthusiasts have seen this clip already, and most don't need to be convinced of it's message, but I'm posting it for anybody out there not in both categories.

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Tagged Apollo Astronomy Carl Sagan Moon Pale Blue Dot Space Travel

Old Man Punches Moron in Face, Saves World

How Buzz Aldrin's Beat-Down of Moon-Hoaxer Gives Me Strength (Video)

Buzz04

Buzz Aldrin is a great hero of the modern age.  He's one of only 12 people to have ever stepped foot on another world.  He's also an accomplished mechanical engineer, fighter pilot, and humanitarian.  He's been critical of NASA's recent lack of ambition, and endeavours to motivate the public to aggressively pursue the space effort.  Yet while he was only the second man on the moon, he's first in my books.

That's because in the video below Buzz, wittingly or no, struck a major blow against conspiracy theorists and their nonsense.  Just in case anyone hasn't been paying attention, conspiracies, pseudoscience, and denialism really tend to stick in my craw.  Those that like to invent their own reality are of course perfectly welcome to do so, but when they start trying to spread their bunk about the world I start to get my back up.  It's just infuriating to me that someone selling patently false delusions can reasonably expect to find an audience amongst otherwise rational people.  Alas, that audience is certainly there.

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Tagged Apollo Buzz Aldrin Conspiracy Theories Humour Moon Moon hoax Nasa Passion Punch Skepticism
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