No wonder it feels more crowded
this post was submitted on 04 Apr 2026
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This helps explain why days seem shorter as we age, the Earth is spinning faster due to the conservation of angular momentum. The days are literally shorter.
fun fact, days have actually been getting longer pretty much since formation of earth (well moon to be correct). reason iirc is that moon is slowly moving away from earth, and this results in some dynamics changing and as a result earth spins slower. like billions of years ago, it was closer to 23 hours.
ps - very rusty memory right now, should have skipped writing instead of half borked fact
You're correct. There are more factors involved too, including climate change, since more ice melting means more water as well, moving the mass away from poles to the center to also be affected by the mind pull too.
All the factors end up changing things by about a millisecond per century. The effect is akin to a spinning figure skater having their arms up over their head vs directly out from their body.
Fun fact: China has built such a massive dam that it has slowed down (albeit only slightly*) the Earth’s rotation
*if i am not mistaken, it was just enough to be misured, nothing too crazy
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Well that’s what happens when you leave it out in the sun
Aside from all else, the first image was taken on film lit by daylight, the second was shot on digital at high ISO lit by moonlight with a little sunlight at one edge
Moonlight doesn't have the same colour rendering quality as sunlight
Thanks for the info, that's awesome! Based on the quality of the image, I'd guess this was a specialized camera designed to have a broader range of sensitivity. Do you know if that's right or did they just use a nice DSLR?
Also, the first image has been corrected for rayleigh scattering, either algorithmically or artistically. The second image does not appear to have been corrected. It looks similar to what we get from geostationary satellites prior to performing rayleigh scattering correction.
There is a much higher quality version of the second image on NASA's website. I think the reason the second image has so much colour ranges because it was taken in log, but that's just a normal SLR camera feature. I think there's even a way of getting my phone to take pictures in log, it just uses a lot of memory so it's not on by default
Log? Isn't that the video thing? Still images use raw for best post processing
It's a Nikon D5, the shot is at 52k ISO.
Cool, thanks! That's some crazy high ISO.
Good to know it’s still a flat disc
Amazing how the countries side over it?
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By the way, speaking of changed colours of planets: if you haven't been keeping up with the latest news in space imagery and want a real mindbender, check out what has recently happened to Neptune. You may have been thinking, ooooh, what an enthralling blue planet! - bzzzzzt, turns out it's a pretty bland and boring gas giant, the colours were exaggerated on purpose because otherwise you can't see shit.
I like the pale blue representation, reminds me of blue jade or some old seaglass.
This truly is the worst timeline. Next, they'll tell us Uranus isn't gassy too.
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Second picture looks smogier and more polluted
Well the second pic is also at night with a high iso and long exposure plus it's digital so there's a lot more noise going on.
Speaking in generic terms, film is way more forgiving of over exposure and digital is way more forgiving of under exposure. A fast lens is always king, but once you hit parity on that I would personally take digital for low light any day.
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The maps were correct, New Zealand doesn’t exist.
Completely different landmasses as well!
Kubrick, we're onto you
I like how you can see the ring/sphere of atmosphere in the new image.
It's because the Sun is behind it.
It's getting old, I guess /s
Proof that global warming is not real!!!! Read your science… if something gets HOTTER it EXPANDS!!! Those scientist cucks have cucked themselves good this time!!!!
/s (in case it’s needed)
You got your science all wrong. Global warming is about the earths athmosphere, which is gaseous. When gases get COMPRESSED they become HOTTER. The earth becoming smaller means the atmosphere is becoming SMALLER too, so the gas gets COMPRESSEd! Climate change is because the earth is getting smaller! And they want you to use less oil and gasoline and hook you up to the sun and stuff like heroin addict!!
/s
The magnetic poles must be moving substantially. Africa has rotated almost 90 degrees in a few short decades!
The blue Marble was also photographed "upside down." We tend to rotate it because the shape of Africa is apparent and familiar. The new shot is taken further West and I think closer to the planet so not as much of its surface is visible.
It's because the Apollo mission photos were obviously faked. How would they have known how small Earth really is, duh!
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Big if true.
I'll need Jerry Smith's opinion on this one
We are not a celestial dwarf. Earth is a planet.
happy cake day!
Thanks!
with higher gravity it might shrink.
Best I can do is more gravitas in my Lemmy comments. not sure it's enough for the planet to collapse but I can try, if there's a chance of it ending our current conundrum
with shrinking it might higher gravity too
Where did Africa go?? 😧
It's cold out there in space.
Don’t they know about shrinkage?
continents seem to have moved too.. weird.
A lot less green, as well.
That's because the internet made the world smaller.
It's because we're looking at a different side of the planet in the second photo.
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