If there ’s one matter I jazz more than octopus , octopodes and octopi ( all of which areperfectly acceptable pluralizations of the word octopus , give thanks you very much ) , it ’s pedantry . And good heartbreak , does Phil Plait ever serve up a whopping helping of the stuff in reaction to today ’s Earth - Day theme Google Doodle .
https://gizmodo.com/what-is-the-correct-pluralization-of-octopus-5897603
Plait ( aka the “ Bad Astronomer ” ) , kicks off his long list of scientific grievances thusly , today on Slate :
The phase of the Moon is shown the wrong way .
As the Doodle cycles , you see the Moon rise on the left and setting on the right ( which is correct for someone in the northerly cerebral hemisphere face in the south ; Orient is to the leftfield and west to the rightfulness ) . The first time we see the Moon , it ’s a crescent rising in the east at sundown , point with the spacious part to the left , and the horn of the crescent pointing to the right .
But that ’s not potential . When the Moon is opposite the Sun in the sky , it has to be full . Here ’s why .
The cause we seephases of the Moonis due to the geometry between the Earth , Moon , and Sun , which alter as the Moon orb the Earth . When the Sun and Moon are in the same part of the sky , the Moon is novel . A few days afterwards , as the Moon circles the Earth , it force by from the Sun in the sky , and we see a crescent , with only part of it fire up . A few days more ( a week after new Moon ) , and the Moon is half - lit ( what we call , weirdly , first quarter , because it ’s a fourth part of the way through its monthly cycle ) . A few more day , and the Moon gets fatter , and has what ’s predict a gibbous conformation . Then , two calendar week after fresh Moon , it ’s opposite the Sun in the sky and we see it as full , a completely unhorse magnetic disc .
After that , the cycle reverse . The Moon becomes gibbous , then half well-lighted , then a crescent again . Since it ’s at the remainder of its rhythm , we call that the sometime Moon .
Google ’s scribble begins with the old Moon , but there really is n’t anything awry with that ( after all , the Moon ’s phase follow a cycle , so there really is n’t a right “ kickoff ” or “ goal ” to its illuminance ) ; what is untimely , says Plait , is that the crescent Moon be near the Sun in the sky . “ That ’s why it ’s a crescent , ” Plait insists . In the doodle , “ it ’s shown as opposite the Sun , stand up in the eastward as the Sun determine in the west , which only occur when the Moon is full . ”
This supervision will not stand , humans . And if Plait has anything to say about it , neither will the several other scientific mistakes in this otherwise characteristically fun , entertaining and interactive Google doodle . Seriously , though , it ’s loaded with inaccuracies . direct on over to Slatefor Plait ’s full unmitigated pedantry - fest .
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