Re:Jupiter has 10 more moons we didn't know about
by jacquesm on Thursday July 19, 2018 @05:56AM
(#17564971)
Most planets aren't even spherical, they are all elongated at right angles to the axis of rotation.
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Re:Jupiter has 10 more moons we didn't know about
by aeorgnoieang on Thursday July 19, 2018 @10:13AM
(#17566423)
Most planets aren't even spherical in the same way that a piece of paper isn't even flat.
A fun read about this:
- [Asimov - The Relativity of Wrong](http://chem.tufts.edu/answersinscience/relativityofwrong.htm)
From the link above:
> To put it another way, on a flat surface, curvature is 0 per mile everywhere. On the earth's spherical surface, curvature is 0.000126 per mile everywhere (or 8 inches per mile). On the earth's oblate spheroidal surface, the curvature varies from 7.973 inches to the mile to 8.027 inches to the mile.
> The correction in going from spherical to oblate spheroidal is much smaller than going from flat to spherical. Therefore, although the notion of the earth as a sphere is wrong, strictly speaking, it is not as wrong as the notion of the earth as flat.
Re:Jupiter has 10 more moons we didn't know about
by saagarjha on Thursday July 19, 2018 @06:45AM
(#17565151)
You're being unnecessarily pedantic. There's a clear difference between oblately spherical and lumpy.
Re:Jupiter has 10 more moons we didn't know about
by jacquesm on Thursday July 19, 2018 @09:58AM
(#17566300)
You seem to read my comment as contradicting rather than supplementing.
Re:Jupiter has 10 more moons we didn't know about
by saagarjha on Thursday July 19, 2018 @02:12PM
(#17568936)
Sorry, your use of "even" made it seem like you were trying to be contradictory.
Re:Jupiter has 10 more moons we didn't know about
by bashinator on Thursday July 19, 2018 @02:24PM
(#17569046)
Perhaps you meant, "No planets are perfectly spherical"?