Talk:3072: Stargazing 4

Is it not possible and even likely, due to the simplistic nature of the dialog here, that the falling stars here in fact have nothing to do with black holes and merely refer to "falling stars"? 172.68.150.67 19:11, 5 April 2025 (UTC)

I think they have to do with stars falling in to the black hole. 172.69.17.125 00:53, 6 April 2025 (UTC)

I must say that my first too hasty view of the comic page had me reading "...haven't seen a star falling since...", and thus about "falling stars", i.e. meteorites (which... well, is another astronomically naïve 'fact'), but on a second reading I correctly realised it as "fall in" and therefore could only really be relating to the black hole thing that closes the comic-text.

But so easy for a minor misreading to at least lead to this. If something about Earth's atmosphere had been mentioned, perhaps it could have remained ambiguous, but I don't have any doubts about its intention. Until someone points out another way to interpret the progressive back-referencing of text, I suppose, maybe leaving either me or they adamantly trapped down the wrong garden path/rabbit hole... ;) 162.158.74.14 10:07, 6 April 2025 (UTC)

First comic explanation I've done. This is... somewhat harder than what I expected. MinersHavenM43 (talk) 02:46, 5 April 2025 (UTC)

To be clear, the comic says grains of sand on Earth's *beaches* which presumably excludes deserts and such. I think another joke with that panel might be that Earth has more sand than just the beaches. 108.162.212.31 03:21, 5 April 2025 (UTC)

Randal is rarely wrong. Have we seen TDEs (tidal disruption events) for Sag A* or only for other supermassive black holes? --172.70.242.247 07:44, 5 April 2025 (UTC)

I don't think the voice in the title text should be identified with Randall. Furthermore it is said that we haven't seen a star fall into a black hole, which is different from a TDE. --172.71.102.194 08:23, 5 April 2025 (UTC)

She's back. SHE'S BACK!!!! /ref Caliban (talk) 09:10, 5 April 2025 (UTC)

This feels like Cunk on Space 141.101.99.123 11:06, 5 April 2025 (UTC)

Indeed we never saw a TDE for Sag A* provided context for that --Trimutius (talk) 11:13, 5 April 2025 (UTC)

In the last panel and title text, Megan states it's hilarious when "stars" fall into black holes, that they can't leave Yelp reviews, and that she has a list of stars she hopes are next to fall in. Is it possible she's now conflating Hollywood stars (movie/TV personalities) with the celestial bodies? Like she has a list of entertainment personalities she bears a grudge against and wishes they would leave the country (or universe)? 172.70.126.154 11:54, 5 April 2025 (UTC)Pat

I myself had that very thought, thinking that this statement might be a double-entendre that refers to some people. Ianrbibtitlht (talk) 02:33, 6 April 2025 (UTC)

Why isn't Danish called Danish in the transcript instead of a long-haired Megan?--Darth Vader (talk) 10:43, 6 April 2025 (UTC)

That's not Danish. Danish's hair goes below her shoulders. I don't think it's Megan, either, though. The personality doesn't seem to fit Megan and the hair seems slightly longer. 172.71.150.109 15:19, 6 April 2025 (UTC)

Her hair does go quite low down (second character in second pane). Not sure what you mean about personality (this character doesn't say anything). Personally I still think its Danish. Also the comic is listed under the Danish category still...--Darth Vader (talk) 16:57, 6 April 2025 (UTC)

OH! Disregard. I misunderstood what character you were referring to. I thought you were talking about the planetarium presenter... who I don't think is Megan.162.158.42.48 17:04, 11 April 2025 (UTC)

Still no April fools? Sad :( Aprilfoolsupdate! (talk) 11:05, 6 April 2025 (UTC)

"However, as the Roche limit of a black hole is always greater than its Schwarzschild radius,.." - I don't think so. Especially for heavy black holes the Schwarzschild radius is so far out that the tidal effects may be small. Additionally, the Roche limit depends on the structure of the small body too, while the Schwarzschild radius is just a function of the black holes mass and rotation. What does the community think? 108.162.221.151 (talk) 14:03, 6 April 2025 (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Wikipedia cites this paper when it comes to this topic, I looked through this paper and it suggests that the event you described could happen. TomtheBuilder (talk) 16:18, 6 April 2025 (UTC)

TDEs do happen, I don't question this aspect. I think most normal stars will be strongly deformed if not torn apart but more compact, "stiffer" object can easily cross the event horizon / Schwarzschild radius of a SMBH without structural damage. I couldn't find any publication right now but I guess neutron stars woud cross the event horizon quite unaffected because they are so small and the gravitational gradient across them would be orders of magnitude smaller that its own gravitation. But the text was changed to "usually" already - can live with that :-) 172.68.50.170 (talk) 17:22, 6 April 2025 (please sign your comments with ~~~~)