It's been said that the world is slightly larger around the equator than it is from pole to pole.

Can you actually see the difference ? when you are out there orbiting .

I never get a window seat.

The Oblateness of the Sphericalitude is not usually visible to the... 'human' eye.

https://www.quora.com/If-the-E...SA-images-from-space

Not unless you're some kind of idiot savant. The difference in the polar vs equatorial diameter is 0.35%.

http://www.space.com/17638-how-big-is-earth.html

For comparison, if the Earth were the size of a billiard ball, the difference is the thickness of two pieces of printer paper.

Due to rotation, earth is a little chubby around the middle. I wish I could use that excuse.

Edit - maladat. I don't know how you know that, but I am never playing trivial pursuit with you!

... We have forum astronauts?

I thought you were the only forum member from outer space, bendable!

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
... We have forum astronauts?

astronauts as in plural. Can I stow away in your carry-on.

I want to got to Mars, so I can lose weight.

Never been there, but I love space stuff.

The way we have been traveling for the past 5 decades, we don't get far enough away where one would see any difference. Low Earth orbit for us is 120-175 miles altitude, IIRC. Hubble missions went out to 350+, but even then, I doubt you would be able to really see the oblateness. And all manned missions I know of had more or less equatorial orbis, going 35-50 degrees north/south of the equator; not polar orbits where one might see the best contrast in Earth girth. . .

I actually did log that note the last time I was in orbit (March '14 -- 3 month stint on the ISS).

If you are just in Orbit chances are you are too close to tell.

here is a picture from a Million Miles out.

A NASA camera on the Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite has returned its first view of the entire sunlit side of Earth from one million miles away.

This color image of Earth was taken by NASA’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC), a four megapixel CCD camera and telescope. The image was generated by combining three separate images to create a photographic-quality image. The camera takes a series of 10 images using different narrowband filters -- from ultraviolet to near infrared -- to produce a variety of science products. The red, green and blue channel images are used in these color images.

The image was taken July 6, 2015, showing North and Central America. The central turquoise areas are shallow seas around the Caribbean islands. This Earth image shows the effects of sunlight scattered by air molecules, giving the image a characteristic bluish tint. The EPIC team is working to remove this atmospheric effect from subsequent images. Once the instrument begins regular data acquisition, EPIC will provide a daily series of Earth images allowing for the first time study of daily variations over the entire globe. These images, available 12 to 36 hours after they are acquired, will be posted to a dedicated web page by September 2015.

The primary objective of DSCOVR, a partnership between NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Air Force, is to maintain the nation’s real-time solar wind monitoring capabilities, which are critical to the accuracy and lead time of space weather alerts and forecasts from NOAA.

For more information about DSCOVR, visit:

http://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/DSCOVR/

I think the biggest challenge would be to identify the equator from a distant camera in space. Given the unlikely alignment of a camera exactly at the equatorial line, and perpendicular to the polar axis, the difference would be minimized visually for any picture.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
Edit - maladat. I don't know how you know that, but I am never playing trivial pursuit with you!

I didn't know it, I had to look it up.

quote:

Originally posted by maladat:
Not unless you're some kind of idiot savant. The difference in the polar vs equatorial diameter is 0.35%.

http://www.space.com/17638-how-big-is-earth.html

For comparison, if the Earth were the size of a billiard ball, the difference is the thickness of two pieces of printer paper.

Maybe it was on a "Tuesday".

Not to mention, no human has observed the entire earth with their own eyes since 1972... And of the 24 who have, only 13 are still alive...

The infrared radar must be out again on the Mothership.

I can see the wires going across a road sharp as a tack, but the edges telephone poles they attach to look blurry. I've got a little bit of astigmatism. When I'm in orbit my astigmatism makes the equator look pudgy. But now I know it isn't just my imperfect eyes that make it look that way!

The Earth is flat like a pizza pie and covered with a dome. All the photos are just CGI fakery.

quote:

Originally posted by Fenris:
I want to got to Mars, so I can lose weight.

Do what I do, weigh yourself in the pool.