686

submitted 3 months ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz

144 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] wraekscadu@vargar.org 13 points 3 months ago

We can build a telescope to see this by the way. The lens being the gravitational warping of spacetime by the sun. We go waaaay past the orbit of Pluto (I forgot the exact distance) and send probes there. We can have quite nice pictures of planets up to pretty nice distances.

[-] rooroo@feddit.org 9 points 3 months ago

Easy trip to make; it took the voyagers only about 40 years to pass Pluto?

[-] wraekscadu@vargar.org 10 points 3 months ago

Depends on your definition of "easy". Here's the wiki article about it.

[-] FundMECFS@piefed.zip 3 points 3 months ago

FOCAL would be able to observe only objects that are right behind the Sun from its point of view, which means that for every observed object a new telescope would have to be made.[3]: 33 [5]

Ah….

[-] FundMECFS@piefed.zip 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Thinking about it this isn’t necessarily true in that moving the FOCAL relatively little could yield new things to observe (even microarcseconds). So you wouldn’t need a new FOCAL to measure each new thing. However each FOCAL would be measuring a miniscule bit of space over its lifetime. Which means for each distinct object that isn’t basically a neighbour in angular terms to a FOCAL sent you’d need a new FOCAL probably. Unless our long term energy generation/harvesting and propulsion in deep space significantly improves technology wise.

this post was submitted on 08 Apr 2026

686 points (98.6% liked)

Science Memes

20710 readers

959 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.

Meta Post Tags

Rules

Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
Keep it rooted (on topic).
No spam.
Infographics welcome, get schooled.

If you are here asking: "Is this a science meme?"

Probably, yes. We use the Dawkins definition of meme: a replicating idea, not just an image macro with a fact on it. A good post here doesn't need to teach you something. It needs to make you ask something: who, what, where, when, and especially why or how.

Science isn't a filing cabinet of facts, it's a conversation. For example, a photo of an eel or other localized wildlife counts because most people never see one, and wonder is the first step of inquiry. A car meme counts if it makes you curious about what's under the bonnet. If you want to talk about something you noticed in the world, chances are someone else wants to talk about it too.

We encourage sillyness, especially where a post creates interesting discussion. Experimenting is encouraged, but keep it in good faith and never punch down.