I, and I suspect many others, have no clue what an arcsecond is and thus it's significance in anything. Inches also doesn't really give accurate significance, but at least it's relatable and doesn't leave me 100% lost, and I can focus on the message that something significant has been discovered, which may require some action.

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SoftTalker 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

I think it's pretty apparent that ~1 yard, i.e. about one step at a typical walking stride, is tiny relative to the circumference of the earth. I agree that it's a more understandable measure for most people than "arcseconds"

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johnisgood 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I would still have been lost as I use the metric system. Just use whatever is most accurate, and I will research it.

	▲	skeledrew 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		The site is US-based, and thus caters primarily to the US "lay person" first.

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grg0 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

What happened to degrees or radians?

	▲	fiddlerwoaroof 3 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		A degree is too big for the effect, the division of the degree into 60 arcminutes and the arcminute into 60 arcseconds is the standard subdivision of degrees as an angle measurement going back to the Sumerians.
	▲	skeledrew 3 days ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		Still doesn't say much to many. Temperature will be what comes to mind first for the lay person when they hear "degree", blank stare for "radian". But pretty much everyone in the US knows what an "inch" is, and the rest of the world can do a quick lookup/conversion. And everyone knows immediately on seeing the headline that something moved from its usual spot to somewhere else.
	▲	ForOldHack 3 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Again... AI blows, but ... "Calculate the fraction of the circumference represented by the arc segment:Divide the arc segment length by the Earth's polar circumference (in inches):31.5 inches / 1,574,896,558.4 inches = 0.0000000200012759 Radians. Which is kinda interesting, as it calculates the earths' circumference in Inches. 1.57 Billion inches.