Talk:1547: Solar System Questions

I wonder if "What's the deal with Miranda?" is talking about one of Uranus's satellites or if it's a Firefly/Serenity reference? Keavon (talk) 15:31, 6 July 2015 (UTC)

• That was my reaction too. Randall is (as he should be) slightly obsessed with Firefly. Cosmogoblin (talk) 19:12, 6 July 2015 (UTC)
  • There are other Mirandas... Miranda Sings, Miranda Hobbes, etc. Smperron (talk) 13:36, 8 July 2015 (UTC)
    • Given that the title of the comic is "Solar System Questions", and Miranda in firefly is not in the solar system, this is clearly a reference to the Uranus moon. Niffe 00:09, 10 July, 2015
      • If it's a reference to Miranda from Sex And The City, it's still a valid question. 108.162.241.8 12:42, 13 July 2015 (UTC)

Many of the entries can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unsolved_problems_in_physics Cschwenz (talk) 16:16, 6 July 2015 (UTC)

The title text is a reference to the Futurama episode "Butterjunk effect" http://theinfosphere.org/The_Butterjunk_Effect. 188.114.98.29 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

• I suggest it's much more likely to be a reference to Randall's own obsession with humans flying with wings: 620, https://what-if.xkcd.com/30/. 108.162.250.161 01:00, 8 July 2015 (UTC)

What's Titan like? Refernece to Gattaca (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZa83dTf4JA)? The Twenty-second. The Not So Only. The Nathan/Nk22 (talk) 16:23, 6 July 2015 (UTC)

I wonder if Randal is using us as unpaid researchers to answer his questions for him?173.245.48.89 16:53, 6 July 2015 (UTC)

• Crowd-sourcing space probes? I certainly hope so!! Cosmogoblin (talk) 19:12, 6 July 2015 (UTC)
  • I was also thinking that, or at least he might have been thinking, "This oughtta keep those silly people on the ExplainXKCD wiki busy!". ;) KieferSkunk (talk) 20:42, 6 July 2015 (UTC)

Timing is good as it has recently been shown that red organics (Tholins) are produced by the particular UV wavelength called 'Lyman-Alpha' which is almost as bright on Pluto's night-side due to starshine as it is from the Sun during its daytime... the Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt may be the original Red-light District. Go New Horizons! Squirreltape (talk) 15:13, 7 July 2015 (UTC)

Ice Spikes could be a reference to the Ice Spikes biome in Minecraft: http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/File:Ice_Plains_Spikes.png Daedalus (talk) 10:12, 7 July 2015 (UTC)

The last question/the title text could also refer to Robert A. Heinleins "The Menace from Earth": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Menace_from_Earth Bichlesi (talk) 01:13, 8 July 2015 (UTC)

The "big white things in Titan's lakes" may also refer to the magic islands that were observed by Cassini.--108.162.221.90 02:56, 8 July 2015 (UTC)

If they wore wings and could fly you would end up with the Butterfly Derby on the moon from the Futurama Episode "The Butterjunk Effect" 108.162.216.146 06:23, 14 July 2015 (UTC)

Ideas about the "What pushes spaceships slightly during flybys?": (1) Gravity is slightly stronger near the equator due to the faster relative motion of the planet surface (which is why the plane of orbits of moons, planets, rings, galaxies try to align near the equator of the central mass). (2) Earth's mass is not 100% evenly distributed within it's volume causing minor gravitational distortions. (3) Flybys "behind" the Earth as it moves in its orbit gravitationally slow the Earth (very very slightly) robbing it of KE and giving it to the craft. Flybys "in front" of the Earth in orbit do the reverse. - Ezfzx (talk) 17:46, 1 December 2021 (UTC)

I think this page, perhaps more than any I've run across so far, can really use a few more sets of eyes. I would even suggest that the page is incomplete, because of all the new science we've done in the past decade. It would be nice if we could label the status of these questions. "Which other moons have seas" answer is clearly incomplete, as it doesn't list "several" contenders. Maplestrip (talk) 10:41, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

I just added the color-coded column, which might be of interest and helpful when looking at this as a checklist. Maplestrip (talk) 11:02, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

Thank you, anonymous IP editor, for adding so much information to this page! That was exactly what I was hoping when I marked this page as incomplete, and it's amazing to see how much new knowledge we've gained in the past decade. The floating islands of Titan particularly wowed me. I'm beyond pleased! Maplestrip (talk) 13:23, 23 April 2024 (UTC)