At the rate that we're launching crap into orbit and abandoning it, we'll get there!

At first, I was wondering why someone put a planetary fanfic video on the internet, but then I remembered rule 34 and started masturbating to it.

Cool enough that I watched it twice.

Huh, some of those interpretations actually made me wish that Earth had rings.

TwistedIvory: Huh, some of those interpretations actually made me wish that Earth had rings.

Exactly. Let's blow up the moon and get us some rings, dammit!

/Not sure if there's enough mass to do more than wimpy rings
//Too late to attempt the math tonight

That was pretty awesome

That was really cool. It really would be noticeable just where you are, to have the sky be so different by latitude that way.

It really puts things in perspective when you see the rings from different cities and suddenly realize that the cities aren't oriented the same way.

Imagine how our cavemen ancestors would've treated that strange verticle line in the sky / weird arc on the horizon. I suspect that we would've figured out that the earth was round a lot earlier than the greeks or egyptions did.

And what would this have meant for early religion? The gods would seem like they were setting off a nuclear bomb every couple of years when a large enough chunk hits the ground. Would we have decided that god is a deeply vengeful biatch who must be kept pleased at all costs? Or would we have decided that god is an absolute prick that must be destroyed at once? Most likely, the constant kiloton+ explosions would mean that something as complex as us would probably not ever develop, but where's the fun in an answer like that?

The shadow on the earth from the rings looks quite solid, which would imply that when the sun passes by the rings, it'd be a false sunset. I wonder if/how much sunlight could actually pass through the rings, assuming an equal density to saturns rings.

/The equinoxes would probably still be highly worshipped in equatorial civilizations
//I really have over-thunk this one...

I JUST TOOK THE BIGGEST BONG HIT EVER

Very cool.

Very good find submitter.

did I...
Um. Did you just ask a question?

As close as we'll get IRL:




Iceland, September 2005

Would watch again

markie_farkie: As close as we'll get IRL:

Iceland, September 2005

So a random field in Iceland is at the end of the rainbow? What happened to the unicorns?

VvonderJesus: What happened to the unicorns?

The locals ate them all after the previous winter's fermented, putrefied shark, and soured ram testicle supply ran out!

markie_farkie
As close as we'll get IRL:

awesome photos! Did you take them?

Also, great video subby

oi_piss_me_off: awesome photos! Did you take them?

Yes I did.. Lived there for a year from 05-06 on a contract for the Navy.. Incredible country!

More here (new window)

And yea subby, great video!!

Wow. That was farking cool. Great find, subby!

SJKebab: Imagine how our cavemen ancestors would've treated that strange verticle line in the sky / weird arc on the horizon. I suspect that we would've figured out that the earth was round a lot earlier than the greeks or egyptions did.

And what would this have meant for early religion? The gods would seem like they were setting off a nuclear bomb every couple of years when a large enough chunk hits the ground. Would we have decided that god is a deeply vengeful biatch who must be kept pleased at all costs? Or would we have decided that god is an absolute prick that must be destroyed at once? Most likely, the constant kiloton+ explosions would mean that something as complex as us would probably not ever develop, but where's the fun in an answer like that?

The shadow on the earth from the rings looks quite solid, which would imply that when the sun passes by the rings, it'd be a false sunset. I wonder if/how much sunlight could actually pass through the rings, assuming an equal density to saturns rings.

/The equinoxes would probably still be highly worshipped in equatorial civilizations
//I really have over-thunk this one...


Yep. I wonder too how things would be different if we could, with just our eyes, see other planets (besides the moon) as a disc with phases, rather than just very bright stars. Or even if we could do the same with nearby (binary?) stars. Would we have just skipped the "Earth = Center of the Universe" phase?

Also, animator of this video could have shown some rarer things, like the moon traversing the rings, and their effect on eclipses.

SJKebab: The shadow on the earth from the rings looks quite solid, which would imply that when the sun passes by the rings, it'd be a false sunset. I wonder if/how much sunlight could actually pass through the rings, assuming an equal density to saturns rings.

yeah, i kept thinking this too. whether the rings would cast a shadow. But damn that did look pretty cool. I was trying to imagine all the sweet pictures of that to take.

/nice shots markie_farkie
//it'd also be cool if the Earth had multiple moons.

I am obviously not an astronomer but wouldn't it be plausible that many of the debris would get knocked off course and bombard the planet? Aren't some of the debris in the Saturn rings pretty big?

Bladel: Yep. I wonder too how things would be different if we could, with just our eyes, see other planets (besides the moon) as a disc with phases, rather than just very bright stars. Or even if we could do the same with nearby (binary?) stars. Would we have just skipped the "Earth = Center of the Universe" phase?

This sucks. This is one of few times that I've got in early enough on a cool thread like this to have some fun philosophising about it. Alas, a Pearl Jam gig awaits and the cool discussions are going to have to wait...
BOOOOO!!!!

BigSnatch: I am obviously not an astronomer but wouldn't it be plausible that many of the debris would get knocked off course and bombard the planet? Aren't some of the debris in the Saturn rings pretty big?

I'm wondering what the perturbations would be like with the Moon's gravity - it's a lot more significant gravity well than Saturn's puny moons.

I bet the the rings would warp from the Moon's passage so much they'd look like Charlie Brown's shirt.

fake

Yeah but would you eat the moon if it were made out of barbecue spare ribs?

SJKebab: And what would this have meant for early religion? The gods would seem like they were setting off a nuclear bomb every couple of years when a large enough chunk hits the ground.

The chunks of ice that make up saturn's rings are fairly small, with the biggest no more than 10 meters in diameter - enough so that they'd burn up in earth's atmosphere.

larrycot: Exactly. Let's blow up the moon and get us some rings, dammit!

On it. (new window)

Very cool! Also a shame we aren't near enough to any cool nebulas to have them fill the sky (barring any danger to life they might pose).

SJKebab: Bladel: Yep. I wonder too how things would be different if we could, with just our eyes, see other planets (besides the moon) as a disc with phases, rather than just very bright stars. Or even if we could do the same with nearby (binary?) stars. Would we have just skipped the "Earth = Center of the Universe" phase?

This sucks. This is one of few times that I've got in early enough on a cool thread like this to have some fun philosophising about it. Alas, a Pearl Jam gig awaits and the cool discussions are going to have to wait...
BOOOOO!!!!

You will have much more fun at the PJ show than a Fark discussion.
I saw PJ at the ACL Fest in Austin. Awesome show!

SJKebab: "Imagine how our cavemen ancestors would've treated that strange verticle line in the sky / weird arc on the horizon. I suspect that we would've figured out that the earth was round a lot earlier than the greeks or egyptions did."

They'd have believed it was the location of heaven. Some sort of celestial bridge. Then when science had progressed far enough to demonstrate that it's just a ring of debris, theologians would claim that nobody had ever literally believed such a thing, and that when interpreted metaphorically it's clear that the disciples were speaking of a ring made from rocks and dust.

Zamboro: SJKebab: "Imagine how our cavemen ancestors would've treated that strange verticle line in the sky / weird arc on the horizon. I suspect that we would've figured out that the earth was round a lot earlier than the greeks or egyptions did."

They'd have believed it was the location of heaven. Some sort of celestial bridge. Then when science had progressed far enough to demonstrate that it's just a ring of debris, theologians would claim that nobody had ever literally believed such a thing, and that when interpreted metaphorically it's clear that the disciples were speaking of a ring made from rocks and dust.

What would have been very interesting to me would have been the comparative mythologies and lining them up based on latitude... (sigh) even in my imagination I'm nerd.

If Earth had Saturn's rings and they were made out of spare ribs, would you eat them?



It's a simple question. Would you eat Earth's rings if they were made of ribs? Just say yes, and we'll move on.

make all the religious speculation you want, but just watching that 3 minute video is leaving me in a sense of awe & wonder of how great & vast our universe is. i think that's the idea behind "worship" in all religious thought.

\or maybe it's the combo of benadryl & insomnia
\\either way, super cool video

Well, it would totally rule out the space program and GPS satellites, and potentially mean we would be trapped on this planet with that giant collection of crap stuck in orbit around us.

Zamboro: SJKebab: "Imagine how our cavemen ancestors would've treated that strange verticle line in the sky / weird arc on the horizon. I suspect that we would've figured out that the earth was round a lot earlier than the greeks or egyptions did."

They'd have believed it was the location of heaven. Some sort of celestial bridge. Then when science had progressed far enough to demonstrate that it's just a ring of debris, theologians would claim that nobody had ever literally believed such a thing, and that when interpreted metaphorically it's clear that the disciples were speaking of a ring made from rocks and dust.

And then the ruling Quintaglio priest would poke your eyes out.

You got to love LiveLeak! Awesome find subby!

If I had any photoshop skills, I'd photoshop an AXE or American Apparel or Coca Cola ad on the side of those rings.

What the video really sold me on though was that if we had rings we'd have interplanetary peace.

Wouldn't the disk be much thiner with nearly all of it within a few hundred miles or so of geo sync orbit? Anything else would have fallen out of the sky in short order. Jupiter and Saturn have lots of nice moons to help throw things out of balance but with just one moon things would be much different.

I watched that thing with a cynical eye. I'm still cynical, but that is darn good animation.

It'd make telling latitude a lot easier, but you'd still be farked in terms of longitude.

RoyBatty: What the video really sold me on though was that if we had rings we'd have interplanetary peace.

I was thinking the same thing- they would be a global commonality. Then again, probably not- we all the moon and it doesn't do shiat. Lazy farking moon.

What is the aria that is playing? It's on the tip of my tongue, but I can't think of it.

It was a great video and I like astronomy, but I couldn't stop thinking about Hitman (video game version) when I was watching the video.

/background music

Wow. What if the earth had rings. Look at what these places would look like. Awesome.

Baryogenesis: It was a great video and I like astronomy, but I couldn't stop thinking about Hitman (video game version) when I was watching the video.

/background music

Ave Maria!! thank you! that was going to drive me insane.

yarnothuntin: Baryogenesis: It was a great video and I like astronomy, but I couldn't stop thinking about Hitman (video game version) when I was watching the video.

/background music

Ave Maria!! thank you! that was going to drive me insane.

Glad I could help. Now I'm off to strangle some people with fiber wire.

Baryogenesis: Glad I could help. Now I'm off to strangle some people with fiber wire.

Is that game any good?

I didn't watch the entire video. Do they show the rings at night? I don't understand how we would see them like that during the day. Wouldn't it be more of a dim shadow or a cloud?

Speedbts alt: I didn't watch the entire video. Do they show the rings at night? I don't understand how we would see them like that during the day. Wouldn't it be more of a dim shadow or a cloud?

It's a good video.