Editing 811: Starlight

{{comic
| number    = 811
| date      = October 27, 2010
| title     = Starlight
| image     = starlight.png
| titletext = Don't worry! From the light's point of view, home and your eye are in the same place, and the journey takes no time at all! Relativity saves the day again.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Megan]] talks with [[Beret Guy]] about the journey of light through the universe from its source to our eyes. In Megan's opinion, it is very sad that this journey is pointless - light's travel ends only with us seeing "pretty dots" - stars in the sky. Beret Guy then tries to return light to its birthplace by using a mirror, which reflects light back to its source.  It's also possible that it's a canvas, and beret guy is trying to capture the pretty dots so their journey isn't pointless.

In reality, this would not work. Only a tiny fraction of the photons emanating from a star will reach the mirror and, even if the mirror is held at the perfect orientation, with dispersion (even if the mirror is perfectly smooth, the atmosphere is not) the probability that even one photon will make it back 'home' is effectively nil.
However, if Beret Guy decides to exhibit another one of his [[:Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy|strange powers]], it is possible that he can find a way to actually find a way to reflect starlight back to 'home'.

The title text is a reference to {{w|special relativity}}, which states that from the {{w|Frame of reference|point of view}} of a light particle, the distance is zero because it is moving at the speed of light, so it takes no time to go anywhere. Note that the title text says that relativity saves the day ''again''. This could be a reference to a previous comic [[660: Sympathy]] in which a socially inept physicist touches upon using some consequences of special relativity to save a friend's deceased brother.

==Transcript==
:[The comic consist of six black panels with white drawings. There are stars above the characters in all panels.]
 
:[Megan and Beret Guy stares at a starlit sky. The text is written above the stars and the sentence continues into the next frame. First here it becomes apparent that it is Megan who speaks the entire comment.]
:Megan: The starlight falls on our eyes after a journey across trillions of miles- 

:[Zoom in on Megan and Beret Guy. The continued text is shown to come from Megan via a speech line.]
:Megan: dying here at last, so far from home, all so we can see some pretty dots.

:[Beret Guy think for a moment]

:[Beret Guy runs away]

:[Beret Guy comes back with a mirror under his arm, the starry sky can also be seen in the mirror.]

:[Beret Guy reached Megan, and holds it up above his head pointing it towards the stars.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]