The biggest debate in the world is whether The Simpsons can tell the future or if their scenes are coincidences. Did they know that Disney would buy Fox? Did their crystal ball tell them that Trump would be president or was it pure chance? To believe in their abilities is up for debate but I always assumed these would be the biggest coincidences in the world. Hank Green, American YouTuber, science communicator, novelist, entrepreneur, and whatever else he can fit on the resume, has released a TikTok today that might change my mind.
On April 8th millions of people stopped what they were doing to watch the total solar eclipse, a spectacular event where the Earth, Moon, and Sun align causing darkness during the day and an amazing sight. To many this is just that, an amazing sight. However, Hank Green expands on this in his video explaining just how amazing this really is.
“The fact that the moon takes up pretty much the exact same amount of space but a little bit more than the sun is just an absolutely bonkers coincidence” he explains. “None of the other planets are like this” he continues. “And that we happen to be around in a moment when it is the case. In the future, it won’t be the case anymore cause the Moon is slowly moving away from us” Green adds on.
Yes you heard that end part correctly. The moon is in fact moving away from earth at about 3.8 centimeters per year. Humanity might end up watching the very last total solar eclipse on Earth….well us or the dolphins when they inevitably take over. If it makes you feel better though, the moon might not completely float away for maybe another 15 billion years…..which is like double the time it will take for the sun to enter its Red Giant phase and engulf the inner planets.
Back to Hank Green though he continues with his video stating “The sun is about 400 times farther away from us than the moon is, it’s also almost exactly 400 times bigger.” He continues “And this isn’t inconsequential…it’s the reason we discovered the corona of the sun”. An entire discovery made by us, the human race, could not happen if it wasn’t for this perfectly aligned event. We could not measure this without the eclipse, we cannot stare into the sun with a ruler without this!
Have a watch of the video yourself, he delivers it in a very captivating way that makes you realise just how lucky we are to live when and where we do.
@hankgreen1 Total solar eclipses are one of the weirdest coincidences. #eclipse ♬ original sound – Hank Green
