I watch a lot of science content online and I always see stuff like “scientists have found a planet 100 light years away that is twice the mass of earth made out of solid methane and rains diamonds at 400mph” and then others that say “scientists think there could be a ninth planet passed Neptune but we’re not sure, maybe, who knows?” Like, how do we know so many specifics of these incredibly far off worlds but can’t figure out what’s in our own relative backyard?
In: Planetary Science
Imagine you’re sitting on top of a hill at night, next to a street lamp. You can see everything in the area illuminated by the street lamp, but past a certain distance it’s dark and you can’t see anything. Looking down the hill, you can see hundreds of other street lamps in the city, little islands of light in a sea of darkness.
You can see a lot of things going on around those other street lamps. Cars, people, buildings, etc. Even when they are far away, if you look long enough, you can make out some details. And sometimes there are objects moving in the darkness that you can’t see most of the time, but occasionally move into the light. And because you’re so far away, you can track them as they move between the lights.
But if there are objects moving in the darkness around you, it’s sometimes harder to tell. Although you are close to the light and so are getting a lot of detail, you can only see the things around you from where you’re standing. You can’t see them against another light, or from multiple angles. So you have to rely on clues like moving shadows or maybe seeing other object move a bit when the hidden objects disturb them. Because of where you are positioned, even though the object is closer, you can see less of it.
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