Talk:3301: Stargazing 5

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)

Good point, then she might finally stop...or not MUSEings of black beret (talk) 23:33, 21 October 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)

Why keep using the tarp? couldn't they just build a dome around Megan's home MUSEings of black beret (talk) 23:36, 21 October 2026 (UTC)

Megan would simply gather people there instead, the scale is whats important, if it's too small she might notice but too big and she could continue stargazing. what's a signature? (talk) 18:48, 22 October 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)

Either that or 1229. GreyFox (talk) 21:25, 8 October 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)

Ugly titletext font

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)

What if we formatted it like this:

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.

This is much faster and easier to read. Death cab for me (talk) 15:51, 22 September 2026 (UTC)

It's somewhat ironic that when I read Something Like This, I'm so very used to it being something said by a certain character with a very similar name to yours. 81.179.193.245 20:58, 22 September 2026 (UTC)

But it's so much better! it simplifies words to their earliest unique letter and the less confusing a word the more letters you add, so if you see an it can quickly mean and but anthropi is needed to differentiate anthropic from the equally uncommon word anthropomorphic Death cab for me (talk) 15:42, 23 September 2026 (UTC)

what is the strange new title text font anyway. it wasn't like that on explain xkcd before 73.132.167.116 21:23, 22 September 2026 (UTC)

does anyone know why? I'm really confused, since I hate the new font, and it WASNT like this before. Ｉ am certain of it 73.132.167.116 00:27, 23 September 2026 (UTC)

I don't know why, but I'm pretty sure it's the same neither-bolt-nor-italic cousin of the font used in the everpresent "xkcd.com is best viewed with Netscape Navigator 4.0 or below on a Pentium 3±1 emulated in Javascript on an Apple IIGS at a screen resolution of 1024x1. Please enable your ad blockers, disable high-heat drying, and remove your device from Airplane Mode and set it to Boat Mode. For security reasons, please leave caps lock on while browsing." 2601:204:C287:7F50:0:0:0:92F4 01:38, 23 September 2026 (UTC)

It's actually not a cousin, it's the same exact font used throughout the site. Anyway I have reverted the change since people don't like it. FaviFake (talk) 07:02, 23 September 2026 (UTC)

I liked it :( Death cab for me (talk) 15:51, 23 September 2026 (UTC)

Dammit. Maybe I'll propose it at one of the community portals FaviFake (talk) 21:48, 23 September 2026 (UTC)

Thank you for changing it back. Standard prose should generally not be written in small caps. --144.121.163.114 22:06, 23 September 2026 (UTC)

---

The person in the background right next to her is called "White Hat", although, technically, his hat is black. --2001:A62:518:1001:4019:732E:2FFC:EFF0 16:42, 22 September 2026 (UTC)

If it were Black Hat, then the entire hat would be grey. Xkdvd (talk) 17:07, 22 September 2026 (UTC)

I just read the article which the explanation alleges is an example of someone claiming that the apparent similarity in the size of the Sun and the Moon (even though the Sun is actually 400 times larger) is evidence for the existence of God. The article cited does not make that claim. 2600:1008:B06D:7DA4:CD46:F0F3:EC56:CA0 17:59, 22 September 2026 (UTC)

It's probably something to do with the "extraordinary coincidence" of the Sun being the same multiple further away as it the multiple of its size being proof for being a designed-in feature. Which suffers from the usual problems with ontological arguments, and especially the selective observer effects (if they weren't apparently the same size, we'd not be wondering why they aren't; if other things were instead then they'd be the 'proof' instead). Also that it's only 'exactly' the same size right now... wait a billion years and total solar eclipses will be impossible.

I do agree that it's a jarring inclusion in the comic Explanation. As a philosophical point, or even non-point, the theistic element is not really alluded to in the comic itself. It's pretty much the same as a "Wherever you go, there you are!" sort of joke. 81.179.193.245 21:07, 22 September 2026 (UTC)

The article cited is written from the perspective that God created the Sun, Moon, and Earth. It even indicates that God is responsible for both the distance difference and the visual size similarity illusion. But, it does not say that this is evidence for the existence of God. 207.179.201.91 23:53, 23 September 2026 (UTC)

The text above the comic lists the previous four comics in the series.

Eh? What text above the comic? 82.13.184.33 13:32, 24 September 2026 (UTC)

Changed it to be better phrased/more explanatory. Basically, the xkcd site Header Text for https://xkcd.com/3301/ (and only for the Stargazing 5 comic, not even the other Stargazings) gives links to those other prior Stargazings. (Hmmm,, has anyone added this exception the the Header text page yet? I'll have to check that later.) 81.179.193.245 20:01, 24 September 2026 (UTC)