There are so many places we read about and never get to see; but perhaps more than most, Australia seems almost like a fictional land to me. I guess I can attribute that to landscape, the animals, the plants and the history; but I think more than anything, it’s the distance.
I’ve been saying a lot lately, that “you can’t go any farther than Australia,” meaning, it’s the farthest you can travel across the surface of the Earth before you’d start circling back.
But then I wondered if that was actually true. So I did a little research. The farthest place from where you stand is called the antipode (or antipodal point). It is the region on the Earth's surface which is on the diametrically opposite side of the world, or, as we used to imagine when we were children, the place you’d get to if you dug straight down (which, I should note, if you’re starting from anywhere in the U.S., turns out not to be China.)
This weird map demonstrates the antipodal relationships of all regions of the Earth. If you look at any location on the purple map, it’s antipode is represented on the upside-down blue map; and vice-versa. You’ll notice that, interestingly, very few areas of land have an antipode that isn’t ocean.
(A more detailed (and very cool) demonstration can also be found on this website: http://www.antipodemap.com/ You’ll see two maps. Drag the upper map until the pointer moves to the location you want, and the pointer on the lower map will automatically move to show the location of its antipode.)
So what is the farthest place from Albany New York? Well, it turns out to be is somewhere in the Indian Ocean, approximately 200 miles southwest of Perth, Australia. So, if I’m talking about Australia being the farthest place (as in land) I would be sort of correct. Though Roger is in Sydney, on the eastern side of Australia; not Perth, on the western side.
And how far is the farthest you can go? About 12,450 miles.
But that’s not the farthest place people have ever been. The farthest is the moon; and that’s anywhere between 18 to 20 times as far, depending on where the moon is in its orbit. That’s pretty darn far! I’m still dumbfounded when I think about the fact that someone was actually there. Talk about fictional; how unreal it sounds to say that someone actually walked on a place in the sky.
I talked to Roger on the computer the past few mornings. We even have cameras set up so we can see each other. I still can't beleive it - But even so, it’s very real that I miss Roger a great deal.
4 comments:
that is really interesting. I didn't know the word for it, but now I am smarter! I know you miss him a great deal. Please sen him our hugs from Philly.
see you soon!!
Dan -
I am always learning something new from you. I admire your curiosty and then how you undertake research to satisfy it. Hopefully, some day you will also be able to go to the lands down under for a visit. Cheers!
talk about syncronisity (sp?) -- just before I read this entry I got an email from a friend of mine (who originally hails from Sydney, Aus. btw) entitled "a little antipodean humor". And I realized that was a word I didn't (yet) know. And now I do. Thanks :)
Maybe Australians are more familiar with this word, as a culturally Western, English-speaking country living "down under" from their kin in the UK and North America.
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