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"Galaxy Song" is a Monty Python song written by Eric Idle and John Du Prez.〔''Monty Python Sings'' CD booklet. 1989 Virgin Records〕 The song first appeared in the 1983 film ''Monty Python's The Meaning of Life'' and was later released on the album ''Monty Python Sings''. In 2014 the song featured in the live stage show ''Monty Python Live (mostly)''. The song originally debuted during the comedy sketch "Live Organ Transplants". The surgeon (John Cleese), upon failing to persuade Mrs. Brown (Terry Jones) to donate her liver, opens the refrigerator doors to reveal a man wearing a pink morning suit (Eric Idle). The man accompanies Mrs. Brown through outer space singing about the universe, which prompts her to agree to the surgeon's proposal. == Accuracy of astronomical figures == The lyrics include a number of astronomical facts and figures, which may have accurately reflected the known values at the time the song was written. Some of these have changed as improved technology has allowed scientists to make more accurate measurements. * Idle sings that the Earth is "revolving at nine hundred miles an hour". He is using the wrong term, since the Earth revolves around the Sun, but it rotates on its axis; however, "rotating" does not rhyme with "evolving" so the songwriters may have used artistic license. The current estimate for the rotational speed at the equator is 1040 miles/hr (1670 kilometers/hour).〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=NASA IMAGE satellite,Ask the Space Scientist Archive )〕 900 miles is correct if this is given in nautical miles, but it is more common to speak of knots in this case. He gives the Earth's orbital speed as per second, compared with the real figure of 18 to 18.5.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=What is Earth's mean orbital speed? )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Speed of Light )〕 * Idle states that the Sun is "the source of all our power". In fact, three notable sources of electrical power are not directly traceable to the Sun: The first is geothermal power, which is derived from geothermal energy, 20% of which remains from the original planet formation and 80% of which is derived from ongoing radioactive decay. The second source is the Moon's effects on tides and the associated methods of power generation. The third is nuclear power derived from uranium and other fissile elements. Ultimately, however, the overwhelming proportion of human-generated power derived from fossil fuels and thence from photosynthetic plants makes this line a very good approximation to the truth. The three other power sources are available because of the Sun's influence on our early solar system, so Idle's statement is correct in a literal (if somewhat pedantic) sense, even if not for practical purposes. * Idle's figures for the size of the Milky Way galaxy are roughly correct. He understates the speed at which the Sun orbits the "galactic central point", but he gives a good estimate for the total time per orbit. This is "two hundred million years" according to the song, compared with accepted figures of 220 to 250 million years.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Ready Reference )〕 * The song says that we are "thirty thousand light years from galactic central point". In fact, the Sun is more like 25,000 light years from the centre of the Milky Way.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Milky Way Galaxy )〕 The song also states that the galaxy is "a hundred thousand light years side to side". This would make the galactic radius 50,000 light years, which is accurate.〔 Australian astrophysicist Bryan Gaensler has stated that Idle's estimation of the thickness of the Milky Way, at 16,000 light years, is more accurate than the official 'textbook' figure of 6,000 light years.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Milky Way twice as thick as thought )〕 However, the song's position on this was later confused by Idle's performance of the song in his ''Not the Messiah'' show (2007) where the figure he sings is only 6,000 light years. The reason for the confusion has since been explained in a message from Idle on the official Monty Python website. "There was some smug website pulling apart all my original figures for the song (written circa 1981) so for the 2003 Tour (or maybe 2000) I "updated" them. Now you tell me I was right all along! Not sure where I got my figures originally but tell the bastards to make up their minds." * The last verse of the song explains that the universe is expanding, and furthermore, that the speed of light is the "fastest speed there is". Idle's estimate of the speed of light is a relatively accurate one: 12 million miles per minute, versus the standard figure of about 11.16 million miles per minute. (11 million would be a closer estimate, but Idle may have chosen 12 simply because the word 11 would not scan so well.)〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=speed of light )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Galaxy Song」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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