The most amazing fact?

[JJDOBBER79 (Jas)]

Hi IISers, I just saw a cool youtube vid. Neil DeGrasse Tyson is asked what is the most astounding fact about the universe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D05ej8u-gU

I thought it would be interesting to ask the question here and get fellow posters opinions. For me, its solar eclipses. The fact that the moon and sun appear the same size from standing on our rock hurts my brain. This has to be the most unlikely of coincidences with HUUUGGGGEEE odds.

[Miaplacidus (Brian)]

That there exists a terrestrially-bounded, organic life form, one that continues to discover and unravel mysteries so deep that they are manifest only in the invisible vastnesses of the Universe — and that it achieves all this with nothing more than primitive tools, rudimentary mathematics, and imagination — I think I'd put that close to the top of the list.

[Weltevreden SA (Dana)]

There is a curious historical/cultural footnote to Jas's post about the precise size relationship of the sun and moon so as to bring about eclipses as we see them. I lived a long time in the India Subcontinent regions, and there the number 108 figures very large in cultural thinking. There are 108 beads in a Hindu priest's rudrushka (the equivalent of the western rosary first devised in 1440). When people donate money at charity events, it is not an even 100 rupees or whatever, but always 108. There are 108 tones in the Carnatic equivalent of the western musical octave. The Bharata Natyam 'classical' dance form (equivalent to ballet) has 108 postural poses and 108 finger flexions each with its own meaning. The number 108 figures prominently in astrological computation, especially as related to determining the auspices of a hopeful couple's wedding day based on their natal birthdays. It is a perplexing number to turn into a cultural icon—it doesn't fit in well as a prime number in base-8, decimal, or base-12 computations. Why has it such a strong hold on cultural thinking? One would think 64 in a base-8 or 144 in a base-12 system makes sense, but why 108? Then one day a Hindu astronomer told me that way back in India's history, somebody noticed the moon's average distance from the Earth is 108 times the moon's diameter and the sun's distance is also 108 times its diameter as seen from Earth. Today we know these proportions have no relation to the complex ellipses of real orbits, but I still marvel that so long ago in history, somebody managed to calculate what they observed in the moon and sun's diameter-orbit relationship and attributed to that number a profound mysticism.

I mention this only as a historical curiosity, and not as my idea of the vital force which gives astronomy its meaning.

[JJDOBBER79 (Jas)]

Thanks Dana.
That is really interesting. And I agree, the ability of people long ago with limited resources still amazes me. Did you see phobos eclipse the sun as seen from the mars rover? The footage shows that it is roughly half the size of the sun and quite an irregular shape as well which supprised me. Shouldnt it be spherical? it looks more like an irregular shaped asteroid. Maybe its the footage. Thanks for your post

[ZeroID (Brent)]

Fascinating, thanks for the insight Dana. As Jas says, it's amazing what some of the ancient cultures acheived with what now seems to be such simple resources.
Apparently the moon is moving away from earth at about 4 cm per year IIRC. So one day in the far future a full eclipse may no longer be possible. Could take a while, don't hold your breath.

[Paddy (Patrick)]

Thanks Dana, I'd always wondered about the 108 thing.

Originally Posted by JJDOBBER79

Thanks Dana.
That is really interesting. And I agree, the ability of people long ago with limited resources still amazes me. Did you see phobos eclipse the sun as seen from the mars rover? The footage shows that it is roughly half the size of the sun and quite an irregular shape as well which supprised me. Shouldnt it be spherical? it looks more like an irregular shaped asteroid. Maybe its the footage. Thanks for your post

Phobos is probably a captured asteroid as I understand things and is too small for its gravity to pull it into a sphere. Many - I suppose most - of the moons in our solar system wouldn't be spheres.