Question Why can't we go under the earth?

[Dolya]

Hi everyone,
First of all sorry for my bad grammar, English is not my first language.

I recently started to get curious about space, and I'm trying to understand many things, and its pretty confusing because the physics in space is completely different from earth.

There is one thing i really struggle to understand -
Why can't we go under the earth?
If our moon is above us, so when the astronauts fly's to it, they coming from below the moon right?
So logically it means you can approach from below to other planets.
Maybe I'm missing something, and we actually can go under the earth, so why there's no any footage from below the earth?


I was trying to find the answer to that on yt/google but couldn't find something that really answers my question.
I know my question is confusing, maybe I'm asking a wrong question idk.

Thank you!

 

[Catastrophe]

Hi Dolya
First of all, Welcome Let me say that your English is better than that of many I have seen on the Internet, and better than many period.
I am not quite sure what you are getting at. You talk about the Moon, but then is returning to Earth what you mean? - or do you mean going beneath the surface. If the latter, it gets hotter and hotter as you go down. Even the relatively short depths in mine shafts is noticeable.
If you can explain a little more, I am sure there are many of us here willing to try to help.
Cat

 

[COLGeek]

I think this is a matter of perspective. If you had two balls orbiting each other, suspended in three-dimensional space, with no particular "up" or "down", then there is no "under", just the distance between them at any given point.

Approach angles would be irrelevant from an "under" perspective.

There are images of Earth and the Moon from many angles/perspectives.

 

[Craftsman X]

… it might help to imagine the ball that is earth, and think of someone standing at the north pole.
When the moon revolves around us the man will see the moon as above him.
Now imagine another person standing at the south pole. To him he couldn't see the moon now as it would be 'below' him.
The man on the south pole would have to wait until the moon rotated around the earth until it was above him....
If the earth suddenly became see-through both people could look down through the earth and see the other upside down. (their feet would be closest to you, but still standing - if that makes sense!)
I think that when you grasp the idea that every one is standing upright on a spinning ball, it might make sense...
Keep posting questions!

 

[Catastrophe]

Thank you Craftsman. That is fine in theory but in practice it does not upset your argument. I do not see the Moon as necessary.

In fact the Sun, Moon and Planets are never directly overhead. They are confined to the Ecliptic. They can only be directly overhead within the tropics which are dictated by the inclination of the Earth. Very minor corrections are applicable as some of these bodies do not exactly follow the Ecliptic. Just a very few degrees.

Before 2006 I would have been instantly challenged as Pluto varies much more. In 2006 Pluto was changed from Planet to Dwarf Planet. I am talking about the Major Planets only.

Cat

 

[WildSoftail]

wouldn't that occur everything you go underground?

 

[Eva Braun]

I totally agree with COLGeek that there are no concepts as "up" or "down", only the distance between the objects in space.

 

[Helio]

Our habit is that we define words like "down" when we would have to move our head in the direction of our feet. "Up" is the opposite. But if two people are floating in space and oriented opposite each other, then what is up for one is down for another. This is identical to when someone in front of you directs you to go, say, to the left, but you must then ask, "My left, or yours?", since you must know the reference frame chosen.

It's a mark of a good sense of humor when I hear Australians say they are from the land down under. From their point of view, we are the ones below their feet.

 

[Catastrophe]

I think it would be a lot easier if we took it (as I thought it was meant) that under the Earth actually meant towards the middle (but not too close to the middle!!)

 

[Wolf28]

Hi everyone,
First of all sorry for my bad grammar, English is not my first language.

I recently started to get curious about space, and I'm trying to understand many things, and its pretty confusing because the physics in space is completely different from earth.

There is one thing i really struggle to understand -
Why can't we go under the earth?
If our moon is above us, so when the astronauts fly's to it, they coming from below the moon right?
So logically it means you can approach from below to other planets.
Maybe I'm missing something, and we actually can go under the earth, so why there's no any footage from below the earth?


I was trying to find the answer to that on yt/google but couldn't find something that really answers my question.
I know my question is confusing, maybe I'm asking a wrong question idk.

Thank you!

There is no "under" the earth. There is only inside or outside.

"Inside" is when one ventures underground or, you might even consider underwater as being "inside". And there are greater and greater depths to which you can go before you either melt or get crushed (respectively) in the effort.

Most of us live "outside" the Earth, better known as, "on it's surface". The further away you get from it's surface, the further away you get from the Earth. Until eventually you are out in space.

So now you're in space and you look back and you see a big blue marble called Earth. If your spaceship is powerful enough you can fly around it at any angle you choose. If your spaceship is oriented so that your feet are facing away from the Earth, you will always feel as if you are "below" the Earth, or "under it", if you will. If it's oriented so that your feet are facing in Earth's direction, you will get the sense that you are above it. But it's all relative at this point because there is no under or above. It's just your orientation in relation to Earth's position. But you are in space, and since space may as well be infinite to us, there is no up nor down.

As for the moon; it's out there in space floating around too. Another ball you can point your spaceship at (simplistically) and go visit. Once you get there the same rules apply.

So if you're looking for footage of "under" the Earth; I suppose you may be asking about polar orbital footage, and that does exist. Or, you may mean underground or underwater footage. Again, those too exist. Google them.

 

[Helio]

I recently read astronaut Don Petit state that they don't think of themselves as orbiting the Earth while aboard the ISS, but that they are floating still and see the Earth rotate beneath them.

 

[vincenzosassone]

I recently read astronaut Don Petit state that they don't think of themselves as orbiting the Earth while aboard the ISS, but that they are floating still and see the Earth rotate beneath them.

Wow, I really can't believe that! At the beginning, when I decided to follow my passion, I thought that the astronauts didn't have any feelings about their positions in the space because they aren't lured by our gravity or gravity of other objects. Then, when I began to grew up in my passion I understand that they had to feel somethings, and I had the solution reading something ( I don't remember the source). I remeber that those poeple in the space feel a very weird feeling as falling down, everywhere and everytime even if this feeling is only a impession.
But this, this is very strange! I know that we have always the feeling to stay fixed, for istance a man in his machine, but this is very strange to hear. As I have already said, I'm learning more here than in the schools. Oh, I nearly forgot, English isn't my first language for me too, and for this reason many time I wrong some parts of sentences that are different in my language.

 

[Helio]

Our brains will always first use the local reference frames instead of others. A bird in the air will first be deemed to be coming at your windshield rather than you approaching it quickly, but you will hit your brakes once circumstances are also quickly determined.

The strangeness in movements in reference frames is how Einstein developed relativity.

 

[Lutriawolfe]

There is one thing i really struggle to understand -
Why can't we go under the earth?
If our moon is above us, so when the astronauts fly's to it, they coming from below the moon right?
So logically it means you can approach from below to other planets.
Maybe I'm missing something, and we actually can go under the earth, so why there's no any footage from below the earth?
g question idk.

Thank you!

We don't fly straight to the moon. We start by orbiting the earth, and we use the ship's engine to push the ship into increasingly wide orbits until we reach the moon, then we transfer into an orbit around the moon. To get home, we push out of the lunar orbit, then use the ship's engines to brake, so it falls into lower orbits, until it's ready for reentery. And as "under" the earth, we do have satellites which do polar orbits, that is, they travel at right angles to the equator, flying over both poles. Until we have fusion or antimatter engines, we're stuck with transferring from one orbit to another. Even with super high-tech engines, we'd probably still transfer from orbit to orbit, to save fuel.

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