• expatriado@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    I was thinking about Halley just few days ago, I was a kid last time, and was wondering if i will make it to next visit

    • Hule@lemmy.world
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      20 hours ago

      #metoo

      But it’s not really depressing, we’re still better off than the other option!

      • baggachipz@sh.itjust.works
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        13 hours ago

        Right, but why a Matchbox car? I must have gotten it as a present, but who would buy such a thing and why was it made?

        • Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.works
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          5 hours ago

          Why it was made: “Commemorative.” They apparently stamped that decal on three different models of otherwise ordinary mainline matchbox cars. They paint matchbox cars at all to make them special; “I got a red one.” “I’ll trade you my blue corvette and my yellow and purple flames chevelle for your Halley’s comet firebird.”

          Who would buy it: Collectors, because “commemorative.” And apparently parents/loved ones of children, because it’s a toy car. I take it you had fun playing with it as a kid? If so, I’d say it did its job. Those little comet decals seem to have helped form strong memories of it.

  • BaroqueInMind@piefed.social
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    1 day ago

    Hopefully all of MAGA does the same as the Heaven’s Gate cult and castrate themselves and zip-tie plastic bags to their heads when they sleep as the comet flys overhead.

  • jqubed@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    On 9 December 2023, Halley’s Comet reached the farthest and slowest point in its orbit from the Sun when it was travelling at 0.91 km/s (2,000 mph) with respect to the Sun.

      • jqubed@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        That’s like saying I can outrun a TGV (while it’s departing the train station)

        • XeroxCool@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          Eh, I get the sentiment. Nothing in space comes to a stop and most speeds are well beyond human comprehension. The Earth orbits at 67,000mph, escape velocity is like 27,000mph, the ground at the equator moves at about 1,000mph, the Voyagers are in the 30k range, and the Park Solar probe peaks over 400,000mph. So to learn that a comet is a tangible aviation speed was neat to me, at least

      • XeroxCool@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        The SR-71 could almost outrun the moon. Maybe it could. Claimed max 2,200mph vs average 2,288mph of the moon

  • NullPointerException@lemmy.ca
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    1 day ago

    Oh the disappointment the last one was… just a blob, like a small cloud. In contrast, the Tsuchinshan in 2024 was so much better to see.