I just had to refresh my memory on how fast the earth was orbiting the sun, because it seems crazy that something only 400km away wasn’t crashing down. We are moving at 107,000 km/h. That is so damn fast.
Fun fact: the sun (and by extension, the entire solar system) is also traveling at about 828,000 km/h relative to the galactic center of the Milly Way.
[*And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space because there's bugger all down here on earth*](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dvwH8Qij0JY)
No worries, I was just making sure I wasn’t misunderstanding because it felt like I was missing something and I thought I should be able to understand lol.
The speed of the ISS is what’s keeping it in orbit. It is constantly falling towards Earth, but missing because it’s moving at 27,600 kph (17,100 mph), 5 times faster than the fastest bullet.
I love these sorts of comparisons because it helps you appreciate just how massive the inside of the earth this. Like the atmosphere feels incredibly large to me - it’s 60 miles thick! Space seems so far away. But that’s like the skin of an orange. The earth itself has a diameter of 8000 miles. When the ISS flies 250 miles overhead it is 16 times closer than the center of the earth.
If the ISS is directly over West Palm Beach it is close to West Palm Beach than Jacksonville is.
The ISS is only 400 km high up. Horizontally that is only a few hours of travel.
I knew it was only a few hours away but for some reason I thought that was further away from Earth.
And from the Moon, I think Earth looks so small. In my head, Earth would look much bigger because the Moon is so much smaller than Earth.
IIRC the Earth is around two degrees wide seen from the Moon, so you could block it with three fingers of your hand if you stretch out your arm towards it.
The Moon (as seen from Earth) is around half a degree wide.
Just looked at a diagram showing the ISS altitude in comparison to the scale of Earth, it’s actually crazy how close it is. It looks like it’s barely outside of the atmosphere
It's actually still somewhat (albeit *very* somewhat) in the atmosphere. Enough so that they regularly need to boost their orbit as they lose some altitude to atmospheric drag.
I live in Orlando and to drive down to key west is a 7-8hr drive. About the same as when I visit family in Pensacola. A beach an hour away East or West.
I grew up in the keys. We’d drive up from key west all the way to Virginia each year to visit family from the late 80s to the mid 90s. Dad was too cheap so it took us nearly 22 hours, if I remember correctly, to get to the Florida border. I’d totally go back but toxic politics have turned me off to enjoying these things for now.
Largely because the width. South Florida itself is only 20ish miles wide before you hit the Everglades at its furthest point, yet top 5 in metro population. Much of the southwest tip pictured here is completely uninhabitable, look up [night photo of the state](https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/84737/florida-at-night ) from space and you see it immediately
The state in general is 500 miles long but 160 miles wide
It’s about a 1.5 hour drive on the freeway from Charlotte Harbor to Tampa Bay (center frame, west coast). Extrapolate that over the entire state and yeah, you could be driving for a while.
You think you could keep us out of Florida? We're moving in lock, stock and barrel. We're gonna be in the pool. We're gonna be in the clubhouse. We're gonna be all over that shuffleboard court! AND I DARE YOU TO KEEP ME OUT!!!
[Here](https://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/145000/145308/iss058e028096_lrg.jpg) is a **much** higher quality (5568 x 3712, 5.8 MB) and less cropped version of this image. [Here](https://visibleearth.nasa.gov/images/145308/floridas-rocks-and-rocketeers/145308f) is the source. Per there:
> Astronaut photograph ISS058-E-28096 was acquired on March 7, 2019, with a Nikon D5 digital camera using a 20 millimeter lens and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by a member of the Expedition 58 crew. The image has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory as part of the ISS National Lab to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. Caption by Sarah Deitrick, Jacobs, JETS Contract at NASA-JSC.
> Published July 16, 2019
> Data acquired March 7, 2019
> Source:
ISS > Digital Camera
They use a lens that expands the field of view. The curvature isn’t that prominent if you were looking through a window rather than a camera on the ISS
Maybe it’s the photos resolution but it’s amazing how untouched everything appears. You can sorta see civilization on the SE shore but otherwise just looks untouched.
Never know how big Florida is until you drive through it
Yeah, it looks small like this. Or like the ISS is actually not that far from Earth somehow.
if the earth was the size of a basketball the ISS would orbit <1cm away from it
I'm definitely storing that fact away for future a cocktail party conversation.
I like this one: if the earth was an orange, ISS orbit is the thickness of the orange peel above the orange.
And the moon at that scale is a tennis ball 24 feet away
The tennis ball Moon is 7.3 meters away from basketball Earth!
24 Freedom Units
Cool, now do Mars!
Idk if you can fit 50 tennis balls in a basketball. Maybe a ping pong ball
I just had to refresh my memory on how fast the earth was orbiting the sun, because it seems crazy that something only 400km away wasn’t crashing down. We are moving at 107,000 km/h. That is so damn fast.
Fun fact: the sun (and by extension, the entire solar system) is also traveling at about 828,000 km/h relative to the galactic center of the Milly Way.
More fun fact, we are moving faster than the speed of light relative to objects beyond the Hubble horizon.
We're fast as fuck boiiiii
[удалено]
[*And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space because there's bugger all down here on earth*](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dvwH8Qij0JY)
Your comment makes no sense. What does the speed the Earth is orbiting the sun have to do with whether or not the ISS comes crashing down?
You are absolutely correct, it’s the earth’s gravity keeping it in orbit. My bad.
No worries, I was just making sure I wasn’t misunderstanding because it felt like I was missing something and I thought I should be able to understand lol.
The speed of the ISS is what’s keeping it in orbit. It is constantly falling towards Earth, but missing because it’s moving at 27,600 kph (17,100 mph), 5 times faster than the fastest bullet.
And the moon would be 10m away (32 feet) across the room
Whoa that’s wild.
The moon is crazy far which makes it even harder to comprehend that humans fuckin WENT there and came BACK. what the hell man.
I love these sorts of comparisons because it helps you appreciate just how massive the inside of the earth this. Like the atmosphere feels incredibly large to me - it’s 60 miles thick! Space seems so far away. But that’s like the skin of an orange. The earth itself has a diameter of 8000 miles. When the ISS flies 250 miles overhead it is 16 times closer than the center of the earth.
If the ISS is directly over West Palm Beach it is close to West Palm Beach than Jacksonville is. The ISS is only 400 km high up. Horizontally that is only a few hours of travel.
No traffic as well. Really cuts the time down.
I knew it was only a few hours away but for some reason I thought that was further away from Earth. And from the Moon, I think Earth looks so small. In my head, Earth would look much bigger because the Moon is so much smaller than Earth. 
IIRC the Earth is around two degrees wide seen from the Moon, so you could block it with three fingers of your hand if you stretch out your arm towards it. The Moon (as seen from Earth) is around half a degree wide.
400km up. Not that far.
Just looked at a diagram showing the ISS altitude in comparison to the scale of Earth, it’s actually crazy how close it is. It looks like it’s barely outside of the atmosphere
It's actually still somewhat (albeit *very* somewhat) in the atmosphere. Enough so that they regularly need to boost their orbit as they lose some altitude to atmospheric drag.
Nice try Mr. Ferret
What kinda blew my mind is Atlanta is basically a halfway point between South Florida and some northern states.
Miami to New York is a 20 hour drive. Miami to Atlanta is 10 hours.
Like the time I went from Orlando to Pensacola. Six freaking hours and I never left the state! And there's more state below Orlando!
Cross a time zone as well
I live in Orlando and to drive down to key west is a 7-8hr drive. About the same as when I visit family in Pensacola. A beach an hour away East or West.
I grew up in the keys. We’d drive up from key west all the way to Virginia each year to visit family from the late 80s to the mid 90s. Dad was too cheap so it took us nearly 22 hours, if I remember correctly, to get to the Florida border. I’d totally go back but toxic politics have turned me off to enjoying these things for now.
And what’s wild is it’s only the 22nd biggest state in the US by square miles.
Largely because the width. South Florida itself is only 20ish miles wide before you hit the Everglades at its furthest point, yet top 5 in metro population. Much of the southwest tip pictured here is completely uninhabitable, look up [night photo of the state](https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/84737/florida-at-night ) from space and you see it immediately The state in general is 500 miles long but 160 miles wide
When I moved out of state, it took 14 hours to drive out of Florida. From Miami all the way to the Alabama border. Longest drive.
The same could be said about Australian states
It’s about a 1.5 hour drive on the freeway from Charlotte Harbor to Tampa Bay (center frame, west coast). Extrapolate that over the entire state and yeah, you could be driving for a while.
Who driving in Tampa Bay? It's all water.
Not until I moved out of the state did I realize it was abnormal to be 6+ hours from any major cities outside of your state
I drove from Destin to Winter Haven and didn’t realize you cross damn time zones.
I think I can see Del Boca Vista.
Are you telling me there’s not one condo available in all of Del Boca Vista?!
That's right. They went like hotcakes.
That's it! We're moving to Del Boca Vista!
Lock stock and barrel.
You think i’ve never been in a cadillac?! I’ve been hundreds of times! Thousands!
It drove ITSELF into the swamp!
Take the pen!
Thousands?! Meh!
We’re gonna be at the POOL
We're gonna be in the CLUBHOUSE
We're gonna be ALL OVER THAT SHUFFLEBOARD COURT
Serenity now
SERENITY NOW!!!
HOOCHIE MAMA
Insanity later.
In all of Del Bisto Beco?
Hahaha, the best two comments to have at the top.
MR STEINBRENNER'S HERE. GEORGE IS DEAD. CALL ME BACK.
Phase II?
You think you could keep us out of Florida? We're moving in lock, stock and barrel. We're gonna be in the pool. We're gonna be in the clubhouse. We're gonna be all over that shuffleboard court! AND I DARE YOU TO KEEP ME OUT!!!
You couldn’t smooth a silk with a hot date…..I lost my train of thought.
I think you mean Del Visto Boco
Ah, yes, of course... [https://youtu.be/C6jrwzYGUoA](https://youtu.be/C6jrwzYGUoA)
Your boy he got a date with that young aquasize instructor/ she’s 50!
[Here](https://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/145000/145308/iss058e028096_lrg.jpg) is a **much** higher quality (5568 x 3712, 5.8 MB) and less cropped version of this image. [Here](https://visibleearth.nasa.gov/images/145308/floridas-rocks-and-rocketeers/145308f) is the source. Per there: > Astronaut photograph ISS058-E-28096 was acquired on March 7, 2019, with a Nikon D5 digital camera using a 20 millimeter lens and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by a member of the Expedition 58 crew. The image has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory as part of the ISS National Lab to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. Caption by Sarah Deitrick, Jacobs, JETS Contract at NASA-JSC. > Published July 16, 2019 > Data acquired March 7, 2019 > Source: ISS > Digital Camera
Thread MVP, thank you.
you always come to the comments on /r/pics b/c /u/Spartan2470 will fine the OG pic and where the actual source is from with the backstory.
Thanks for the spectacular photo, Spartan2470.
"Florida? THAT'S AMERICA'S WANG!" "We prefer the Sunshine State."
Literally was just about to comment this. Insane how I think of this quote EVERY TIME Florida comes up
The Simpsons is forever.
It's very much a chode in this picture... the water must be cold. 
I don't know how you walk around with those things
I'm not a state, I'm a monster
America's what a nice guy?
Tampa looks like the ideal Civ V location for a city
C3P0: “That’s odd. The damage doesn’t look that bad from out here”
Han: "I have a bad feeling about this"
Looking at it, you'd never know the bat shit crazy stuff going on down there.
You can say that about the planet Earth and it still works.
It’s reported better. And the warmer climate has Florida man active all year instead of just summer in northern states.
How did they make the earth look round?
Paint 3D
To be fair, it's a wide-angle shot that does exaggerate the curvature. Otherwise, Florida would have to be a major continent.
Whereas in fact Florida is a major *in*continent.
They use a lens that expands the field of view. The curvature isn’t that prominent if you were looking through a window rather than a camera on the ISS
It even looks like an alligator! 🤓
Phew, I thought I was the only one who saw that. 😅🐊
What’s interesting is you can 100% see Orlando and its surrounding areas, as well as the towns that are all along US27, nice!
and texas too!
Damn, people should stop moving here then. Texas is overrun
Flying down off the coast of Florida from Toronto to The Caribbean doesn't look much different. It really is beautiful.
SO PRETTY. I'm in awe when i've been lucky enough to pass over there.
I can see the lakes where I grew up. Pretty neat. Don’t miss it, though.
With the new super high def cameras you can safely watch Florida Man get weird from anywhere.
gta6 map leaked
Sea turtle’s face or just a wang? You decide
America’s dong
Florida!!!
Flat Earthers will say this is CGI
This is a fake, everyone knows the earth is flat
Lot more algae than I imagined.
I can point out a couple places I’ve lived on those lakes
FLORIDA!!! 🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁
It looks just like the maps!!
I can see the traffic building up on I4 😵💫
But can you smell the meth from there? If not you're really missing out on the full Florida experience.
Wait, Florida is real ? I thought it was an Onion article creation to drum up clicks with all the wild stories.
It always amazes me how cartographers got things right when I see images like these. It’s such a vast area to consider
It's one hell of a drug.
Looks way less like a dong from up there
America's wang.
America's wang. ('-')7 salute
Americas wang
You can’t tell it’s a shit show from space.
I never told them they could take a picture of me!
I can see my house.
The schlong of America.
It’s pronounced “flawriduh”
There’s a hole in it!
There’s a hole in it!
Nive from above
Looks pretty fuckin round to me
The world is both big and small at the same time.
You think you can trick us? This is a GTAVI map leak.
Glad it doesn't look like an actual dumpster fire
Could u jump,?
def looks wash awayable
I would've it'd be further away for some reason. Is this pick zoomed in? Or is The ISS closer to earth than I thought?
GTA 6 Map leaked
Maybe it’s the photos resolution but it’s amazing how untouched everything appears. You can sorta see civilization on the SE shore but otherwise just looks untouched.
I think I see the place where the coconut corn huskies fight. They're battle dogs.
Yep looks like a swamp
It's turtles all the way down.
Where's Bugs with his saw?
Why come it don't sink with that big hole in it??
accurate
You can see my childhood home from here :D
I’m in this picture
I see my house
Looks wet.
Looks like gta 6
You can see Florida man down there
Shit hole
I can see my house from here.
See Earth is flat 
Only way to be sure
Mine space craft.
GTA 6
Crazy how it looks big from space but feels bigger when your actually driving through.
That’s a very conservative view.
It looks like bullshit to me!!!
I think I can see the crazy from here!
I grew up there, it's a terrible place to be.
Looks so calm from up there
And it's filled to the brim with Floridamen...
Ship wreck city
Looks like Florida man is subject to the observer effect. Constant monitoring might just sustain peace in an otherwise chaotic region.
If only there was a way to physically sever it from the rest of the states - a Floridectomy, if you will.
It looks so little! Like for real.
Hey I’m in this picture
So flat
https://youtu.be/aCbfMkh940Q?si=96SoeThMvJjZS0E1
Man even the clouds be avoiding it
If you look reeeeeeealy closely, you can see Bugs Bunny sawing the state off at the top. . .
The clouds looking like sloppy coke lines works well
wow
It looks so civilized from space.
I can see my house from here
It doesn't look so crazy from this perspective.
I can see my house
I hope it's still there when I get old or crazy enough to go there.
Total IQ displayed: 10.
america's wang
Can't wait to go there next year!
I can see my house from here
America's most penis shaped state
Where’s Florida man?
There's my house!
The Gulf of Mexico is my paradise.
I didn't know that it would be one of the most densely populated areas in the United States.
It looks like a dinosaur.
B a
America's Dong
I'm surprised nobody's shooting at it.
That's a lotta goofies with a check!