Thread: Strange and Unusual Facts

^ There or there abouts.

Originally Posted by helge

And we spin

The moon doesn't--I think

The moon spins at the same speed that it orbits the earth, which is why the same side of the moon is always visible.

While sorta on the subject. Venus' day is longer than its year.

Originally Posted by tomcat

Attachment 60852
Marie Curie’s tomb in the Panthéon in Paris is lined with an inch of lead to protect the public. Her remains are radioactive to this day.

Allow me a small correction:

Her tomb is lined with a 2.5 mm of lead and obviously her remains are not radioactive to these days.

The wrong information obviously taken from the wrong entry in Wiki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Curie

Their remains were sealed in a lead lining because of the radioactivity.[79]

Marie Curie's Belongings Will Be Radioactive For Another 1,500 Years

Her body is also radioactive and was therefore placed in a coffin lined with nearly an inch of lead.
Marie Curie's Belongings Will Be Radioactive For Another 1,500 Years

The correct info is to be taken from another document from her a her husband exhumation in 1995 (the lead lining was from her original burial in Sceaux 60 years ago):
https://www.sfrp.asso.fr/medias/sfrp/documents/Exhumation%20Marie%20Curie.pdf

Originally Posted by Edmond

While sorta on the subject. Venus' day is longer than its year.

Incredibubble but true, Jupiter doesn't orbit the sun.

Originally Posted by jabir

Jupiter doesn't orbit the sun.

Yes, the Jupiter Sun barycenter* is outside the sun's surface by around 30,000Km.


*barycenter. They really should come up with a much cooler scientific name.

Originally Posted by thailazer

The most awaited palindrome in history is 1 20 21.

12 02 2021 works whether you are American or from a normal country.

^ Several posts too slow...

Originally Posted by jabir

Incredibubble but true, Jupiter doesn't orbit the sun.

Jupiter is a planet, and by definition it orbits the sun. However, the size of Jupiter is such that the sun and planet move slightly. The exact locus point defining the Jupiter orbit is immaterial it is still trapped within the sun's gravitational field.

Originally Posted by Troy

Jupiter is a planet, and by definition it orbits the sun.

...of course, there are free-range planets which don't orbit anything...

Originally Posted by tomcat

...of course, there are free-range planets which don't orbit anything...

I prefer the term rogue planet, but yes.

A strange lonely planet found without a star -- ScienceDaily

The General Sherman Tree in California is the world's largest tree. It's 275 feet (83 m) tall and is over 36 feet (11 m) in diameter.

Originally Posted by Troy

Jupiter

A failed star that didn't quite make it. It was just not massive enough to cause hydrogen to fuse to helium, and become a star in its own right.

Which is quite good for us. There wouldn't be mods to clean up our nonsense or xxx of the year polls if it had.

While digging in a cave in New Zealand, archaeologists discovered the claws of a Moa, a bird that went extinct 700 - 800 years ago.

A solar eclipse in the Emirates desert.

Originally Posted by Troy

Jupiter is a planet, and by definition it orbits the sun. However, the size of Jupiter is such that the sun and planet move slightly. The exact locus point defining the Jupiter orbit is immaterial it is still trapped within the sun's gravitational field.

Full marks for revealing that Jupiter is trapped within the sun's gravitational field. I shall add that to my trivia repertoire.

My whoosh point was, and is as further clarification shows, that Jupiter's barycenter is beyond the sun and therefore it does not orbit the sun.

Originally Posted by tomcat

...of course, there are free-range planets which don't orbit anything...

Do the eggs taste any better?

Originally Posted by jabir

Jupiter's barycenter is beyond the sun

Probably the coolest barycenter in the solar system is the Pluto Charon system.




Like one of those big bastard Olympic lads that spin around before throwing something obscenely heavy.


Charon is tidally locked to Pluto, in the same way that the Moon is to earth.

The Soviets landed exploration equipment on Venus

Originally Posted by Backspin

The Soviets landed exploration equipment on Venus

In 1970

Originally Posted by TheRealKW

In 1970

Yet somehow Skidmark is still proud of them - what is it with this guy; China, Russia, Cuba, Chavez, Milosevic, Serbians etc... all heroes.


Astronomy . . . never could get interested in it, but can see the fascination it provides those that are.

Originally Posted by panama hat

is still proud of them

And rightly so.

Surface temp almost 500 degrees Celsius (high enough to melt lead), Atmospheric pressure 75-100 times that of Earth, thick atmosphere full of sulfuric acid.

Not bad for half a century ago.

Originally Posted by TheRealKW

In 1970