Around the north American eclipse in 2024 I learned that it’s purely by complete chance that the sun and moon appear the same size from an observer on earth.
It really is a coincidence. The moon is slowly moving further out in its orbit, so in a few dozen million years it won’t be eclipsing properly any more. We live at a time when it’s just the right size.
It would be interesting to play with a simulation and then throw a larger planet at Earth than the one that is assumed to have created the moon. Just to see what it’d look like from Earth.
Around the north American eclipse in 2024 I learned that it’s purely by complete chance that the sun and moon appear the same size from an observer on earth.
That’s fucking wild if you really think about it.
Yeah, it makes me wonder if there’s some mathematical balance about it that we just can’t prove.
It does seem logical. If the moon was bigger, would it have an orbit further out? If the sun was bigger, would Earth have an orbit further out?
Perhaps it just lines up that way. The other planets have more or no moons so there’s nothing comparable elsewhere in this solar system.
It really is a coincidence. The moon is slowly moving further out in its orbit, so in a few dozen million years it won’t be eclipsing properly any more. We live at a time when it’s just the right size.
It would be interesting to play with a simulation and then throw a larger planet at Earth than the one that is assumed to have created the moon. Just to see what it’d look like from Earth.