I know that there is outer space, so does this mean that there was originally something called inner space?
The only time I’ve heard the term inner space was by Carl Segan on a Nova special (I think). He was referring to the mind (i.e. aliens are not from outer space but from inner space. That is they are hallucinations). Can’t recall the title of the show, and perhaps Carl was just being clever.
well, there is of course, the movie, starring Dennis Quaid, Meg Ryan and Martin Short…
::runs and hides::
My dictionary’s definition 1.a. of “space” is “a set of elements or points satisfying specified geometric postulates: non-Euclidean space.” Its definition 1.b. is “the intuitive three-dimensional field of everyday experience.” It’s only when you get to 1.c. that we get “the expanse in which the the solar system, stars, and galaxies exist; the universe.”; in other words, “outer” space, as distinguished from what’s between some people’s ears–or more seriously, the continuum we all exist within.
Oops…actually, definition 1.c. is “the infinite extension of the three-dimensional field”; it’s only when we get to definition 2 that we get to the Final Frontier. (It goes on for several more definitions, from parking spaces to the intervals between the lines of a musical staff to “one of the intervals during the telegraphic transmission of a message when the key is open or not in contact”, which is definition 9.
) close that last parenthesis and…
These are all from the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, by the way.
[sub]Padding my post count? Who, me?[/sub]
The Air Force Association’s Space Terms page has these definitions:
Inner Space = Circumterrestrial space = 60 miles to 50,000 miles from the Earth. This is about the same range as low-earth orbit, medium-earth orbit, and high-earth orbit combined.
Outer Space = 50,000 miles to 480,000 miles. 480,000 miles is roughly twice the distance to the moon.
Deep Space = the space farther from the earth than 480,000 miles
In the spirit of idle speculation, most of an atom’s volume is empty space. How ’bout calling it inner space?
And yes, the Innerspace movie was great, one of my favorites as a kid.