3212: Little Red Dots - Revision history

82.132.239.130: /* Explanation */ Clarify that the astronomers have a fairly good idea whether or not they're looking at bad sensor data. (And can rule that out.)

2026-03-30T15:13:19Z

‎Explanation: Clarify that the astronomers have a fairly good idea whether or not they're looking at bad sensor data. (And can rule that out.)

GSLikesCats307 at 13:05, 30 March 2026

2026-03-30T13:05:59Z

GSLikesCats307 at 13:05, 30 March 2026

2026-03-30T13:05:10Z

2600:4040:B5CD:4900:33DE:811C:E090:982A: /* Explanation */ Style fix

2026-03-04T15:47:27Z

‎Explanation: Style fix

81.179.199.253: Undo revision 407535 by 2A02:586:4736:BC00:74DA:3F87:45A9:5F27 (talk) A version already linked, above. (Also, this one blocked in UK.)

2026-03-03T14:44:35Z

Undo revision 407535 by 2A02:586:4736:BC00:74DA:3F87:45A9:5F27 (talk) A version already linked, above. (Also, this one blocked in UK.)

2A02:586:4736:BC00:74DA:3F87:45A9:5F27: Father Ted reference in title text

2026-03-03T13:56:43Z

Father Ted reference in title text

82.13.184.33: /* Explanation */

2026-03-02T09:06:47Z

‎Explanation

82.13.184.33: /* Explanation */

2026-03-02T09:05:32Z

‎Explanation

82.13.184.33: /* Explanation */

2026-03-02T09:05:06Z

‎Explanation

Nitpicking: /* Explanation */ Red spiders

2026-02-28T04:46:09Z

‎Explanation: Red spiders

@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 * According to the {{w|Entomology|entomologists}} (scientists who study insects and related arthropods) [represented by [[Megan]]], they are {{w|Clover mite | clover mites}} (''Bryobia praetiosa'') — very small [[Red Spiders|red arachnids]].
 **[[Red Spiders]] were a common theme in early ''xkcd''.
-* According to the {{w|Computer_science|computer scientists}} [represented by [[Knit Cap]]], they are {{w|defective pixel|stuck pixels}} — pixels that do not work properly, and are stuck to one single color (red in this case).  This is {{w|Hot pixel (telescopes)|a plausible concern}}, but presumably should already be handled through calibration processes. Interestingly enough though, this answer is the one most likely of all the possible explanations here.
+* According to the {{w|Computer_science|computer scientists}} [represented by [[Knit Cap]]], they are {{w|defective pixel|stuck pixels}} — pixels that do not work properly, and are stuck to one single color (red in this case).  This is {{w|Hot pixel (telescopes)|a plausible concern}}, but presumably should already be handled through calibration processes. Interestingly enough though, this answer is the one most likely of all the possible explanations in the comic, ignoring the true conclusion of being actual distant objects.
 * According to the {{w|Dermatology|dermatologists}} (doctors who specialize in skin disorders) [represented by [[Ponytail]]], they are {{w|Cherry angioma|cherry angiomas}} — harmless, non-cancerous skin growths made of clusters of dilated capillaries, appearing as bright red, smooth, or slightly raised spots.
 * According to the {{w|Graphic_design|graphic designers}} [represented by [[Hairy]]], these are not "red dots" but are colors of type [https://www.colorhexa.com/d73b3e Jasper] (<span style="color:#d73b3e">●</span> #d73b3e) or [https://www.colorhexa.com/e34234 Vermillion] (<span style="color:#e34234">●</span> #e34234, sometimes called Cinnabar).

@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 ==Explanation==
 The {{w|Little red dot (astronomical object)|little red dot}}s that the comic refers to are something of an astronomical mystery, discovered by the {{w|James Webb Space Telescope}} (a.k.a. "JWST"). They may be powered by [https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/astronomers-detect-oldest-black-hole-ever-observed very, very old black holes] from 400-700 million years after the Big Bang, with the light from when they were young. The comic purports to give the responses of several different experts in unrelated fields when asked to identify them:
 * According to the {{w|Entomology|entomologists}} (scientists who study insects and related arthropods) [represented by [[Megan]]], they are {{w|Clover mite | clover mites}} (''Bryobia praetiosa'') — very small [[Red Spiders|red arachnids]].

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 * According to the {{w|Entomology|entomologists}} (scientists who study insects and related arthropods) [represented by [[Megan]]], they are {{w|Clover mite | clover mites}} (''Bryobia praetiosa'') — very small [[Red Spiders|red arachnids]].
 **[[Red Spiders]] were a common theme in early ''xkcd''.
-* According to the {{w|Computer_science|computer scientists}} [represented by [[Knit Cap]]], they are {{w|defective pixel|stuck pixels}} — pixels that do not work properly, and are stuck to one single color (red in this case).  This is {{w|Hot pixel (telescopes)|a plausible concern}}, but presumably should already be handled through calibration processes.
+* According to the {{w|Computer_science|computer scientists}} [represented by [[Knit Cap]]], they are {{w|defective pixel|stuck pixels}} — pixels that do not work properly, and are stuck to one single color (red in this case).  This is {{w|Hot pixel (telescopes)|a plausible concern}}, but presumably should already be handled through calibration processes. Interestingly enough though, this answer is the one most likely of all the possible explanations here.
 * According to the {{w|Dermatology|dermatologists}} (doctors who specialize in skin disorders) [represented by [[Ponytail]]], they are {{w|Cherry angioma|cherry angiomas}} — harmless, non-cancerous skin growths made of clusters of dilated capillaries, appearing as bright red, smooth, or slightly raised spots.
 * According to the {{w|Graphic_design|graphic designers}} [represented by [[Hairy]]], these are not "red dots" but are colors of type [https://www.colorhexa.com/d73b3e Jasper] (<span style="color:#d73b3e">●</span> #d73b3e) or [https://www.colorhexa.com/e34234 Vermillion] (<span style="color:#e34234">●</span> #e34234, sometimes called Cinnabar).

@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 The {{w|Little red dot (astronomical object)|little red dot}}s that the comic refers to are something of an astronomical mystery, discovered by the {{w|James Webb Space Telescope}} (a.k.a. "JWST"). They may be powered by [https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/astronomers-detect-oldest-black-hole-ever-observed very, very old black holes] from 400-700 million years after the Big Bang, with the light from when they were young. The comic purports to give the responses of several different experts in unrelated fields when asked to identify them:
 * According to the {{w|Entomology|entomologists}} (scientists who study insects and related arthropods) [represented by [[Megan]]], they are {{w|Clover mite | clover mites}} (''Bryobia praetiosa'') — very small [[Red Spiders|red arachnids]].
-**[[Red Spiders]] were a common theme in early ''Xkcd''.
+**[[Red Spiders]] were a common theme in early ''xkcd''.
 * According to the {{w|Computer_science|computer scientists}} [represented by [[Knit Cap]]], they are {{w|defective pixel|stuck pixels}} — pixels that do not work properly, and are stuck to one single color (red in this case).  This is {{w|Hot pixel (telescopes)|a plausible concern}}, but presumably should already be handled through calibration processes.
 * According to the {{w|Dermatology|dermatologists}} (doctors who specialize in skin disorders) [represented by [[Ponytail]]], they are {{w|Cherry angioma|cherry angiomas}} — harmless, non-cancerous skin growths made of clusters of dilated capillaries, appearing as bright red, smooth, or slightly raised spots.

@@ Line 23: / Line 23: @@
 Part of the punchline is the shift in focus: instead of trying to identify the object, the designer is nitpicking the description of "red dot." Additionally, the graphic designer is also requesting [[Cueball]]'s {{w|Color_calibration|color settings}}, implying they believe the reason Cueball calls them "red" is due to poor display settings, and not due to using the common term for the color. There is a certain amount of insight here, as the JWST only observes orange to far-infrared light. This is to enable it to see very distant objects, whose blue and ultraviolet emissions have been {{w|redshift|redshifted}} into longer wavelengths. Converting observed wavelengths into rest-frame wavelengths is a process subject to error, as is {{w|false color|falsely-coloring}} the object so that it may be visualized by human eyes.
-In the title text, Randall claims to have analyzed the "little red dots" and determined that they are actually very large but distant objects. This is not a startling revelation, since the JWST telescope is mostly only used to look at very distant objects in space, and just to be visible at all at these distances these 'dots' would need to be very large (due to the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMiKyfd6hA0 phenomenon] of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvnKXOGYKM8&t=30s relative perceived size], where larger objects that are further away appear to be the same size as smaller ones that are closer to the viewer). The punchline here is that someone who has performed a lot of analysis would be expected to have a result that was not already obvious, but anyone looking at a telescope image of deep space would already be assuming that it depicts large objects very far away, not small objects close to the telescope. The theme of astronomers unsure of the size of objects spotted in a telescope was previously mentioned in [[2359: Evidence of Alien Life]]. The title text could also be a reference to [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh5kZ4uIUC0 a famous scene from the sitcom ''Father Ted''], where the eponymous character is trying to explain the difference between "small" and "far away" to Father Dougal.
+In the title text, Randall claims to have analyzed the "little red dots" and determined that they are actually very large but distant objects. This is not a startling revelation, since the JWST telescope is mostly only used to look at very distant objects in space, and just to be visible at all at these distances these 'dots' would need to be very large (due to the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMiKyfd6hA0 phenomenon] of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvnKXOGYKM8&t=30s relative perceived size], where larger objects that are further away appear to be the same size as smaller ones that are closer to the viewer). The punchline here is that someone who has performed a lot of analysis would be expected to have a result that was not already obvious, but anyone looking at a telescope image of deep space would already be assuming that it depicts large objects very far away, not small objects close to the telescope. The theme of astronomers unsure of the size of objects spotted in a telescope was previously mentioned in [[2359: Evidence of Alien Life]].
 The (possible) issue of a 'stuck pixel', except of a different hue, was previously visited in [[1246: Pale Blue Dot]].

@@ Line 21: / Line 21: @@
 Quite obviously, all of these, if not completely incorrect, are fully unrelated to astronomy, and instead represent instances of the {{w|law of the instrument}}.
-Part of the punchline is the shift in focus: instead of trying to identify the object, the designer is nitpicking the description of "red dot." Additionally, the graphic designer is also requesting [[Cueball]]'s {{w|Color_calibration|color settings}}, implying they believe the reason Cueball calls them "red" is due to poor display settings, and not due to using the common term for the color.  There is a certain amount of insight here, as the JWST only observes orange to far-infrared light; this is to enable it to see very distant objects, whose blue and ultraviolet emissions have been {{w|redshift|redshifted}} into longer wavelengths.  Converting observed wavelengths into rest-frame wavelengths is a process subject to error, and then {{w|false color|falsely-coloring}} the object so that it may be visualized by human eyes is another such.
+Part of the punchline is the shift in focus: instead of trying to identify the object, the designer is nitpicking the description of "red dot." Additionally, the graphic designer is also requesting [[Cueball]]'s {{w|Color_calibration|color settings}}, implying they believe the reason Cueball calls them "red" is due to poor display settings, and not due to using the common term for the color. There is a certain amount of insight here, as the JWST only observes orange to far-infrared light. This is to enable it to see very distant objects, whose blue and ultraviolet emissions have been {{w|redshift|redshifted}} into longer wavelengths. Converting observed wavelengths into rest-frame wavelengths is a process subject to error, as is {{w|false color|falsely-coloring}} the object so that it may be visualized by human eyes.
 In the title text, Randall claims to have analyzed the "little red dots" and determined that they are actually very large but distant objects. This is not a startling revelation, since the JWST telescope is mostly only used to look at very distant objects in space, and just to be visible at all at these distances these 'dots' would need to be very large (due to the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMiKyfd6hA0 phenomenon] of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvnKXOGYKM8&t=30s relative perceived size], where larger objects that are further away appear to be the same size as smaller ones that are closer to the viewer). The punchline here is that someone who has performed a lot of analysis would be expected to have a result that was not already obvious, but anyone looking at a telescope image of deep space would already be assuming that it depicts large objects very far away, not small objects close to the telescope. The theme of astronomers unsure of the size of objects spotted in a telescope was previously mentioned in [[2359: Evidence of Alien Life]].

@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 * According to the {{w|Graphic_design|graphic designers}} [represented by [[Hairy]]], these are not "red dots" but are colors of type [https://www.colorhexa.com/d73b3e Jasper] (<span style="color:#d73b3e">●</span> #d73b3e) or [https://www.colorhexa.com/e34234 Vermillion] (<span style="color:#e34234">●</span> #e34234, sometimes called Cinnabar).
-Quite obviously, all of these, if not completely incorrect, are fully unrelated to astronomy.
+Quite obviously, all of these, if not completely incorrect, are fully unrelated to astronomy, and instead represent instances of the {{w|Law_of_the_instrument}}.
 Part of the punchline is the shift in focus: instead of trying to identify the object, the designer is nitpicking the description of "red dot." Additionally, the graphic designer is also requesting [[Cueball]]'s {{w|Color_calibration|color settings}}, implying they believe the reason Cueball calls them "red" is due to poor display settings, and not due to using the common term for the color.  There is a certain amount of insight here, as the JWST only observes orange to far-infrared light; this is to enable it to see very distant objects, whose blue and ultraviolet emissions have been {{w|redshift|redshifted}} into longer wavelengths.  Converting observed wavelengths into rest-frame wavelengths is a process subject to error, and then {{w|false color|falsely-coloring}} the object so that it may be visualized by human eyes is another such.