Editing 2883: Astronaut Guests

{{comic
| number    = 2883
| date      = January 19, 2024
| title     = Astronaut Guests
| image     = astronaut guests 2x.png
| imagesize = 331x391px
| noexpand  = true
| titletext = They didn't bring us a gift, but considering the kinetic energy of a bottle of wine at orbital speed, that's probably for the best.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by SIX ASTRONAUTS OVER YOUR HEAD RIGHT NOW - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In this comic, [[Cueball]], [[Megan]], [[Ponytail]], and [[Hairbun]] can all be seen eating dinner together. Presumably, Ponytail and Hairbun were invited over for dinner, as, to impress them, [[Cueball]] misleadingly claims that they previously "had six {{w|astronauts}} over for dinner." Normally, this would be interpreted as the astronauts being friends with the hosts (which confers social prestige), going inside their house, and eating. As it turns out, the astronauts actually only briefly passed overhead while in {{w|orbit}}, and, by chance, this happened during dinnertime. This is a pun on the word "over", as the personnel of the {{w|International Space Station}} are overhead when it passes above you&mdash; yet they did not go "over ''to'' someone's house" in the sense that English speakers would usually assume.

Cueball may also be considering the property lines to extend up indefinitely (just like in "What If?" article "{{what if|161|Star Ownership}}"), causing the astronauts to technically be at their house despite being hundreds of miles away, vertically.  The astronauts in question were presumably occupying the International Space Station, which has an orbital period of between 90 and 93 minutes (depending on its altitude) or 5400 to 5580 seconds.[https://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/Tools/orbitTutorial.htm] If the astronauts were "over" for 7½ milliseconds, that would be somewhere between 1.34x10⁻⁶ and 1.39x10⁻⁶ of an orbit.  Earth's circumference (at the equator) being approximately 40,000 kilometers (24,850 miles), the station was apparently "over" for a ground distance of between 53.9 m and 55.7 m (177 to 183 feet). That would imply quite a large property, but may also take into account the locations of the astronauts within the ISS, which is 109 m (356 feet) long (before considering the much smaller [[1276: Angular Size|angular size]] with respect to the ground).

The caption makes Cueball's statement even less impressive, alleging that statements like it are correct in a lot of places. This would make it not even interesting as a {{w|coincidence}}. Though it can only happen for latitudes of less than 51.64° north or south, which is as far as the orbital inclination of the ISS takes it, leaving almost 21.6% of the Earth's surface never directly 'over'ed.

The title text suggests that Cueball didn't want a gift (a bottle of wine) from the astronauts. The kinetic energy of a 1.2 kg (full) bottle of wine traveling at the linear velocity of the International Space Station (8000 m/s) is on the order of 40,000 kilojoules (kJ). For comparison, the kinetic energy of a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshinobu_Yamamoto Yamamoto Yoshinobu] fastball is around 0.16 kJ. That bottle would be hard to keep on the table, and would likely do damage to people or things that tried to keep it there.

This comic was posted the same day as the American release of a film set on the ISS (conveniently named ''{{w|I.S.S. (film)|I.S.S.}}'').

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:[Cueball, Megan, Ponytail, and Hairbun are eating around a table. Cueball is leaning on the back of his chair and has his palm out.]
:Cueball: We don't have houseguests often, but we once had six astronauts over for dinner.
:Hairbun: Oh, wow!
:Cueball (muttering): <small>''…for 7½ milliseconds in mid-August 2012.''</small>

:[Caption below the panel:]
:If you spend enough time looking at orbital records and property lines, you can make this claim in a lot of places.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category: Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category: Space]]