3301: Stargazing 5
| Stargazing 5 |
 Title text: The sun and the moon appear the same size in the sky, even though in real life the sun is more than twice as big. Some call this lucky alignment coincidence; others say it's proof that sometimes things can be the same size. |
Explanation[edit]
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This is one of 50 incomplete explanations: |
This is the fifth comic in the Stargazing series, following 3072: Stargazing 4, which came out one year and five months before.
The comic continues the series with Megan as the host of a stargazing tour, giving a mix of accurate astronomical information and information that is either nonsensical or trivial.
In the first panel, the host explains that her efforts to share "cool space facts" have been covered up by other astronomers (she also referred to her often inaccurate information this way in Stargazing 4). In this case it turns out she has literally been trapped under a tarp, but escaped by chewing through it. It is unclear if or why this was the most practical method of escape.
In the second panel, she suggests that the viewers "spy on some stars". While this choice of words is uncommon in astronomy circles, it is partly due to her belief that stars are birds of the sky. This is inaccurate in many ways: stars are larger than birds, they are further away, and they are not animate.[citation needed] More pertinently, though, birds already occupy the sky, so they are already 'the birds of the sky'. She also suggests taking binoculars from bird-watchers if one doesn't have a set, which may anger the bird-watcher, as well as being a criminal offence.
She then talks about rippling colours in the sky, referring to aurorae, comparing them to screensavers and requesting people not to move their mouse and cause the screensaver to disappear. This is only possible if the sky was a computer screen in a simulation. Screensavers are usually simple computer generated animations (such as changing colours or slowly moving images) that play when a computer is inactive and are considered nice to look at. They were originally to prevent screen burn-in, which is not an issue that would affect the sky. Megan's comment about moving the mouse refers to moving the cursor to reawaken the computer. This is impossible to do in the sky.[citation needed] The idea of the sky as a screen has been referenced before in 395: Morning.
In the last panel, she refers to historical beliefs that the appearance of a comet was a sign that major events, often very bad, were about to happen. By contrast, she styles herself as someone who signals the coming of good things, in the shape of astronomy and "cool facts".
In the title text, the Sun and Moon are compared. The Sun is actually about 400 times larger than the Moon (in diameter; about 64 000 000 times in volume), which means that the statement that it is over twice as large is true, but massively understates the comparison.
Transcript[edit]
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This is one of 35 incomplete transcripts: |
- [Megan is standing in the foreground with her arms raised. Behind her on the left are Cueball and Ponytail, on the right are White Hat and Hairbun. They appear to be looking at her. The background is black.]
- Megan: Welcome to Stargazing!
- Megan: I'm back, despite efforts by astronomers who hate cool space facts to cover me up so I can't see the sky anymore!
- Megan: Nice try, losers! Next time buy a tarp that's harder to chew through!
- [The view closes on Megan, so only Ponytail and White Hat are visible behind her. She's now holding a pair of binoculars.]
- Megan: Now, let's spy on some stars!
- Megan: Does everyone have binoculars? If you don't, find someone looking at birds and try to grab theirs.
- Megan: Stars are the birds of the sky.
- [Close-up of Megan's head. The background is white now.]
- Megan: But stars aren't the only weird lights.
- Megan: Sometimes the sky fills with rippling colors. That's the sky's screensaver.
- Megan: It's very pretty, so don't move your mouse and ruin it.
- [The view pulls back so everyone is visible again. Megan is no longer holding the binoculars. She has her left hand raised, pointing to the sky, while those in the background are looking in the direction she is pointing. The background is black again.]
- Megan: That blob is a comet. People used to think they were harbingers of doom. We now know they're boring, so we have to find new reasons to use the word "harbinger."
- Megan: I'm a harbinger of astronomy!
- Megan: Cool facts are nigh!
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Discussion
next time they should poke holes in the tarp to better confuse Megan. Also this is my first comment ever! Death cab for me (talk) 06:53, 22 September 2026 (UTC)
Hello! This is my first time editing! (I'm not very good at writing) Filpfolpt (talk) 04:43, 22 September 2026 (UTC)
Quick, keep scamming the astronomers by selling them cheap tarps! We need to get more of these strips in! 7amiþ moi · 💬 · 📊 06:23, 22 September 2026 (UTC)
- But the holes would look like stars in the darkness of the tarp, thus stopping them from seeking the real ones. or we could just put those glow in the dark stars inside them. Death cab for me (talk) 06:53, 22 September 2026 (UTC)
If the sky didn't have the screensaver and you left it on long enough it would start to look like https://xkcd.com/395/. Or I geuss that screen burn-in is different from dead pixels but whatever Death cab for me (talk) 06:53, 22 September 2026 (UTC)
Hmmm… I wonder if the tarp thing is meant to be actually by astronomers, or if Megan actually just had a tarp fall in her and she decided to chew through it. Informationaly (talk) 11:13, 22 September 2026 (UTC)
I dislike the titletext font. It's difficult to read especially long ones like on this comic. The original xkcd website uses something that is much nicer. 130.76.25.47 12:10, 22 September 2026 (UTC) Add comment