this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2024
459 points (98.3% liked)

xkcd

8836 readers
180 users here now

A community for a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

https://xkcd.com/2908

Alt text:

Astronomers are a little unsure of the applicability of this index, but NASA's Planetary Protection Officer is all in favor.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 14 points 8 months ago (4 children)

I think part of it is that Mt Everest is a lot smaller than you'd think when you're looking at this scale. The moon is only 2% of the Earths volume so when you spread it over the Earths surface it's really like a thin thin film to cover the whole surface. But the truth is that all of human experience is an even thinner film smeared across the surface.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (3 children)

How is 43 km of moon armor a thin surface by any means?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Consider that the earth is ~12700 km in diameter

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Yeah, but from surface to space it's ruthly 100 km, so 43 km is quite the cover. Then again, I get what you are saying. I gues it's a matter of perspective.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)