cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/45115923

This image of home just came down from the Artemis II crew.

Taken after their translunar injection burn, there are aurorae at top right and lower left, and zodiacal light at lower right.

Credit: NASA/Reid Wiseman

// That’s home. That’s us.

Source

-–

Alternative references with a better quality mentioned in comments by @baguette@piefed.social:
- https://images.nasa.gov/details/art002e000192;
- https://images-assets.nasa.gov/image/art002e000192/art002e000192~orig.jpg [5568 x 3712]

  • TheTechnician27@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    13 days ago

    The only question is “which way is up, and which way is down?”

    Yeah, that’s the human-defined part I was referring to. I could’ve spoken more clearly. The Earth’s electromagnetic field is obviously a real thing with a real, measurable orientation; it’s why compasses work. I wasn’t saying “the line along which the compass needle lies is human-defined”*, but rather that the end of the needle we choose to paint red and collectively define as “up” on Earth’s 2-sphere surface is human-defined. There are real, understandable societal and historical factors that play into why the North Pole is “up”, but this photo is only upside-down from the collective notion that the South Pole is “down” rather than “up”.

    “From the perspective of the widely accepted social construct” is thus the only thing they would’ve realistically meant.

    * I know the terrestrial and magnetic poles diverge somewhat. Close enough for a discussion of “upside-downness”.

    • wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      1·
      13 days ago

      I get it, that’s why my blurb about magnetic poles was in parentheses. I said “somehow” because I recognize that “North is up” is a social construct.

      It’s also arbitrary whether the movement of ions away from the earth at the north pole, and towards the earth at the south pole, has any indication on “up or down.” So that doesn’t really help either.

      My main point was speculation about the universe having a density gradient, where dark matter would be denser below the plane of the galaxy than it is above. That would provide an objective frame of reference. But of course it’s completely speculative and probably easily disproven. I just don’t know if it’s ever even been considered…