get theeself a globe!

After re-watching the latest episode of Torchwood: Miracle Day, I decided it was time to check out this concept of antipodes.

Antipodes are points on the earth that lie precisely opposite to each other... or the ends of a diameter through a sphere. I found this handy dandy antipodes map to help me double-check some facts.

On the show, the team is trying to figure where to go next. They see that a bank of sorts was bombed just days before the Miracle in Buenos Aires. But they learn that a person of interest has just flown into Beijing. Weighing the options, the team is about to go headfirst into Beijing... that is until Rhys, playing with a globe - figures out that Beijing and Buenos Aires are antipodes of each other. After some speculation of what exactly "the Blessing" (cause of the Miracle) could be, the episode ends with the team agreeing to split up and investigate both locations simultaneously.

So first off, huge foreshadowing whenever a team splits up. This means that at least two people (one on each end) have to die, right?

Next, I have to check out this antipodes connection between Beijing and Buenos Aires. Are they really antipodes? If so, they should be sister cities!

Anyways, plugged Beijing (39.91 degrees North, 116.40 East) into the Antipodes Map and found that they are close but not exact antipodes of each other. Beijing's friend on the other side of the world is a spot (39.91 degrees South, 63.60 degrees West) along the border between the provinces of Río Negro and Buenos Aires in Argentina. Can't discern any towns - Viedma is about 100 miles south - but the point lies along Highway 50 and is just 5 miles south of Lago 8 de Agosto.

As is only fair, I entered Buenos Aires (34.61 degrees South, 58.38 degrees East) in the map and found its antipode: a spot in the middle of the East China Sea between China and South Korea! The exact spot is about 125 miles west of the coastal cities of Rizhou and Lianyungang.

Looks like the Torchwood team is only 500 miles off of science but given the scale of the entire world, I think that's commendably close. Good job TV script writers!

By the way, if you know the coordinates of a point, use this map to find out exactly where it is. Very handy.

Hmm... looks like the antipode of San Francisco is in the Southern part of the Indian Ocean, halfway between Madagascar and a little island called Kerguelen. In fact, it looks like all of North America and the Indian Ocean are antipodal regions of each other. The antipodal swathes of Africa and Europe fit in the Pacific while Australia's antipode is swallowed by Northern Atlantic. Looks like the chances of reaching land on the other side is slim unless you're in South America or a sliver of land along East and Southeast Asia.

Don't forget! The season finale of Torchwood - possibly the series - is this Friday evening on Starz!

from starz.com