It's easy to convert kilometers into miles or the reverse. For any two sequential numbers in the Fibonacci sequence, the lower one is the miles and the upper one is the kilometers. Piece of cake!

Also, call them scientists.

So, 12 years and 7 months?

also, THE FACE!

http://www.space.com/26750-comet-face-ph…

@2, He was using metric dates to be cool.

@1, Can we use "boffins" instead?

@4:

Boffins, you say?

*adjusts monocle*

If you must, old chap.

I find the conversions amusing when they are of this nature "6.4 billion kilometers (3.8 billion miles)". When I read figures like this I substitute "really far". The metric works as well as the domestic for that purpose.

I wouldn't bother with the conversions unless the figures are in human scale.

I'm still working on understanding newton-meters for EmDrive

I use the phrase "Newton-meters" whenever possible. Foot- pounds sounds like someone stepping on a lug wrench.

What do you need to convert?

Acre-feet to cubic deciliters?

Convert Me!

Kilometers per second squared to acceleration of free fall on the Sun? Convert Me!

You need a conversion, we got your conversion!

Newter-metons.

I heard the shape of this thing compared today to a rubber duck, and the Monopoly boot.

@10 I think it looks like Michigan. Not sure what that is in metric units.

@6: Use AU. The conversion is easy: 150 million km. And it gives you a sense of scale (as long as you have a decent knowledge of the distances in the Solar System). Do a quick calculation and you will see it has traveled roughly the equivalent distance of 6.8 Earth orbits (each being 2π AU). To put this in perspective, it was launched over a decade ago, so it has traveled less than you have just sitting on your ass orbiting the Sun (which shows how stupid the distance traveled metrics really are).

@7: Why? N-m is torque (among other things). If you are measuring the torsion setup, then that would be fine. Otherwise, you should be talking about newtons.

I'm digging the near-universal horrifically bad "science" reporting on this one today. Its not actually "orbiting" the comet - its just matched the comet's trajectory, and is currently staying about 60 miles in front of it, using thrusters to move in a giant triangle while it photographs the surface, so that the controllers can decide how best to next move in closer.

Thruster burn complete. @ESA_Rosetta has arrived at comet #67P. We're in orbit!

— ESA Operations (@esaoperations) August 6, 2014

Orbiting, intercepting, whatever. So long as they don't pull a similar manoeuvre to the one that doomed the Mars Climate Observer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climat…

Come on estadounidense, get with the metrication already!

@7, 13: A Newton-meter is also a Joule. If Bailo can't understand what a Joule is, it might explain why he thinks hydrogen is a fuel supply.

@17: A N-m can be a joule. It all depends on context. Physics can be tricky sometimes. But it is important to recognize the difference between a torque measurement and an energy measurement. While they have the same units, they share almost nothing in common.