# Is Marilyn wrong?  (paging CalMeacham)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marilyn-wrong-paging-calmeacham/382080>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 28, 2006, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marilyn-wrong-paging-calmeacham/382080 "2006-11-28T16:02:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marilyn-wrong-paging-calmeacham/382080/21 "2006-11-28T22:42:41Z")

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Light rays which reach us from a given point in a galaxy are parallel, or so near to it as to be absolutely, completely indistinguishable. Light rays which reach us from two different points of the galaxy are measurably not quite parallel. But it’s the former which is relevant here, not the latter.

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**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marilyn-wrong-paging-calmeacham/382080/22 "2006-11-28T23:19:10Z")

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So Chronos and QED are disagreeing with each other? I’ll step aside while you two sort it out.

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**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marilyn-wrong-paging-calmeacham/382080/23 "2006-11-28T23:23:41Z")

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I don’t see as we’re disagreeing at all; certainly **Chronos** is entirely correct. We’re saying essentially the same thing in different ways. Where do you see a disagreement?

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**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marilyn-wrong-paging-calmeacham/382080/24 "2006-11-28T23:57:49Z")

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[QUOTE=ftg]  
He she  
[/QUOTE]

I don’t recall seing that in Marilyn’s profile.

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marilyn-wrong-paging-calmeacham/382080/25 "2006-11-29T02:59:57Z")

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Nor do I see anything wrong with what **Q.E.D.** is saying.

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**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marilyn-wrong-paging-calmeacham/382080/26 "2006-11-29T05:16:51Z")

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Well, I guess I misunderstood what Giles was saying. I thought at first he was saying that the angle between light rays from opposite sides of a far-away galaxy is so small that it’s unmeasurable. But it’s clearly not, because imaging the galaxy is a measurement of that angle of the light rays.

But on second reading, I don’t think that’s what he was saying.

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