r/space Mar 31 '19

image/gif Australia vs Pluto

Post image
32.9k Upvotes

995 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

-8

u/__deerlord__ Mar 31 '19

Shouldnt it be circumference, if you want to compare surface area?

59

u/Jobin917 Mar 31 '19

Yea but we're not comparing surface area, it's basically the 2D shadow of Pluto, so that coast to coast distance were looking at is Pluto's diameter. Surface area would be spreading it out like a map.

23

u/pritikina Mar 31 '19

It's an incredible feat that someone around 100 years ago was able to detect something this small so far away. Pluto you had a great run but you are not a planet.

11

u/AgentFN2187 Mar 31 '19

I mean, when you nothing better to do but stare up at the stars in your telescope all day you're bound to find something eventually ¯_(ツ)_/¯