Talk:3253: Sunbeam - Revision history

MAP: Suggestion.

2026-06-03T19:24:01Z

Suggestion.

94.73.49.104: Attempt at fixing the formatting.

2026-06-03T18:13:11Z

Attempt at fixing the formatting.

94.73.49.104: Sometimes you have to take seriously the joke part and handwave the serious explanation.

2026-06-03T18:09:55Z

Sometimes you have to take seriously the joke part and handwave the serious explanation.

82.132.239.195 at 10:03, 2 June 2026

2026-06-02T10:03:44Z

195.65.24.115 at 06:18, 2 June 2026

2026-06-02T06:18:53Z

195.65.24.115 at 06:18, 2 June 2026

2026-06-02T06:18:26Z

Billdxdydz: tropics and seasons need to be taken into account.

2026-06-02T05:46:00Z

tropics and seasons need to be taken into account.

Martin: dogs

2026-06-02T01:28:37Z

dogs

MrCandela2: Added comments

2026-06-02T01:01:13Z

Added comments

75.164.137.175: More geographical interpretation

2026-06-02T00:59:51Z

More geographical interpretation

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:24, 3 June 2026
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	- Weather control—Cloud summoning (curse): astrophotographers and astrophysicists have been cursed by a higher existence with the ability to gather clouds wherever and whenever they most want clear skies.		- Weather control—Cloud summoning (curse): astrophotographers and astrophysicists have been cursed by a higher existence with the ability to gather clouds wherever and whenever they most want clear skies.
	--[[Special:Contributions/94.73.49.104\|94.73.49.104]]		--[[Special:Contributions/94.73.49.104\|94.73.49.104]]
		+
		+	Should say something about astronomers being added in the mouse-over text. [[User:MAP\|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP\|talk]]) 19:24, 3 June 2026 (UTC)

@@ Line 45: / Line 45: @@
 Just in case, I would like to point out that this comic's narrator is serious about the "superpower" thing, as some editors seem to believe it's just a manner of speech. That's the core of the joke. The superpowers mentioned are:
 - Prescience: astrophotographers gain the ability to see the future, restricted to things related to sky objects and phenomena related to them; the narrator wouldn't have ever been able to guess that the sunbeam would end up falling on the closer table while steering away from the farthest one.
 - Weather control—Cloud summoning (curse): astrophotographers and astrophysicists have been cursed by a higher existence with the ability to gather clouds wherever and whenever they most want clear skies.
 --[[Special:Contributions/94.73.49.104|94.73.49.104]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:09, 3 June 2026
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	If I'm not mistaken, the direction of the sun relative to the movement is not perfectly predicted by the hemisphere, but by the one of the two following possibilities: 1. the scene is north of the tropic of cancer, or 2. the person is north of the tropic of capricorn and south of the tropic of cancer at the time of year when the sun passes to their south. Note that if you stand just south of the equator during the northern hemisphere winter, the sun passes to the south, and thus, the scene would work in the southern hemispere. Equally,if you stand just north of the equator during the northern hemisphere summer, the sun will pass to the north, and the scene does not work. {{unsigned\|Billdxdydz\|05:46, 2 June 2026}}		If I'm not mistaken, the direction of the sun relative to the movement is not perfectly predicted by the hemisphere, but by the one of the two following possibilities: 1. the scene is north of the tropic of cancer, or 2. the person is north of the tropic of capricorn and south of the tropic of cancer at the time of year when the sun passes to their south. Note that if you stand just south of the equator during the northern hemisphere winter, the sun passes to the south, and thus, the scene would work in the southern hemispere. Equally,if you stand just north of the equator during the northern hemisphere summer, the sun will pass to the north, and the scene does not work. {{unsigned\|Billdxdydz\|05:46, 2 June 2026}}
		+
		+	Just in case, I would like to point out that this comic's narrator is serious about the "superpower" thing, as some editors seem to believe it's just a manner of speech. That's the core of the joke. The superpowers mentioned are:
		+	- Prescience: astrophotographers gain the ability to see the future, restricted to things related to sky objects and phenomena related to them; the narrator wouldn't have ever been able to guess that the sunbeam would end up falling on the closer table while steering away from the farthest one.
		+	- Weather control—Cloud summoning (curse): astrophotographers and astrophysicists have been cursed by a higher existence with the ability to gather clouds wherever and whenever they most want clear skies.
		+	--[[Special:Contributions/94.73.49.104\|94.73.49.104]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 10:03, 2 June 2026
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	:They only need to know that the sun travels east to west in the sky, and the approximate orientation of the window. (Without regard to the hemisphere or season; in re [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3253:_Sunbeam&diff=414125&oldid=414124].) [[Special:Contributions/2601:642:4C00:7984:B516:F866:A46E:3715\|2601:642:4C00:7984:B516:F866:A46E:3715]] 00:10, 2 June 2026 (UTC)		:They only need to know that the sun travels east to west in the sky, and the approximate orientation of the window. (Without regard to the hemisphere or season; in re [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3253:_Sunbeam&diff=414125&oldid=414124].) [[Special:Contributions/2601:642:4C00:7984:B516:F866:A46E:3715\|2601:642:4C00:7984:B516:F866:A46E:3715]] 00:10, 2 June 2026 (UTC)

−	If I'm not mistaken, the direction of the sun relative to the movement is not perfectly predicted by the hemisphere, but by the one of the two following possibilities: 1. the scene is north of the tropic of cancer, or 2. the person is north of the tropic of capricorn and south of the tropic of cancer at the time of year when the sun passes to their south. Note that if you stand just south of the equator during the northern hemisphere winter, the sun passes to the south, and thus, the scene would work in the southern hemispere. Equally,if you stand just north of the equator during the northern hemisphere summer, the sun will pass to the north, and the scene does not work.	+	If I'm not mistaken, the direction of the sun relative to the movement is not perfectly predicted by the hemisphere, but by the one of the two following possibilities: 1. the scene is north of the tropic of cancer, or 2. the person is north of the tropic of capricorn and south of the tropic of cancer at the time of year when the sun passes to their south. Note that if you stand just south of the equator during the northern hemisphere winter, the sun passes to the south, and thus, the scene would work in the southern hemispere. Equally,if you stand just north of the equator during the northern hemisphere summer, the sun will pass to the north, and the scene does not work. {{unsigned\|Billdxdydz\|05:46, 2 June 2026}}

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 : That was my surface-level interpretation too, that this must be a Southern-facing window in the Northern hemisphere, since the East-West axis (the line that the light will travel along) is roughly parallel to the wall, and the light will pivot to the East (left) as the Sun moves West? [[User:SomeDee|SomeDee]] ([[User talk:SomeDee|talk]]) 15:52, 1 June 2026 (UTC)
 :: Either that, or Cueball is wrong: on the southern hemisphere the sun still "moves" from east to west, but north of the observer. If this was the southern hemisphere, the sun beam would thus move towards the far table. [[Special:Contributions/2001:67C:2564:AB0C:1C57:EB42:6C3F:FD47|2001:67C:2564:AB0C:1C57:EB42:6C3F:FD47]] 16:02, 1 June 2026 (UTC)
+::Could someone create a function which shows at which latitudes this scene could happen at which time of the day on which dates based on what we estimate the solar elevation angle shown to be. (Also assuming that Cueball is right)? Please? [[Special:Contributions/195.65.24.115|195.65.24.115]] 06:18, 2 June 2026 (UTC)

← Older revision		Revision as of 06:18, 2 June 2026
Line 8:		Line 8:
	: That was my surface-level interpretation too, that this must be a Southern-facing window in the Northern hemisphere, since the East-West axis (the line that the light will travel along) is roughly parallel to the wall, and the light will pivot to the East (left) as the Sun moves West? [[User:SomeDee\|SomeDee]] ([[User talk:SomeDee\|talk]]) 15:52, 1 June 2026 (UTC)		: That was my surface-level interpretation too, that this must be a Southern-facing window in the Northern hemisphere, since the East-West axis (the line that the light will travel along) is roughly parallel to the wall, and the light will pivot to the East (left) as the Sun moves West? [[User:SomeDee\|SomeDee]] ([[User talk:SomeDee\|talk]]) 15:52, 1 June 2026 (UTC)
	:: Either that, or Cueball is wrong: on the southern hemisphere the sun still "moves" from east to west, but north of the observer. If this was the southern hemisphere, the sun beam would thus move towards the far table. [[Special:Contributions/2001:67C:2564:AB0C:1C57:EB42:6C3F:FD47\|2001:67C:2564:AB0C:1C57:EB42:6C3F:FD47]] 16:02, 1 June 2026 (UTC)		:: Either that, or Cueball is wrong: on the southern hemisphere the sun still "moves" from east to west, but north of the observer. If this was the southern hemisphere, the sun beam would thus move towards the far table. [[Special:Contributions/2001:67C:2564:AB0C:1C57:EB42:6C3F:FD47\|2001:67C:2564:AB0C:1C57:EB42:6C3F:FD47]] 16:02, 1 June 2026 (UTC)
		+
		+	Could someone create a function which shows at which latitudes this scene could happen at which time of the day on which dates based on what we estimate the solar elevation angle shown to be. (Also assuming that Cueball is right)? Please? [[Special:Contributions/195.65.24.115\|195.65.24.115]] 06:18, 2 June 2026 (UTC)

@@ Line 33: / Line 33: @@
 FWIW you don't need no Astrophotography to predict the sunny table. I see it on my dogs as they lay on the floor after lunch. --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 20:26, 1 June 2026 (UTC)
 Is there something about the illustration that makes it clear which direction the sun is going to move? Or does the speaker in the comic require additional external knowledge about which direction the window is facing? -- [[Special:Contributions/108.18.36.182|108.18.36.182]] 22:21, 1 June 2026 (UTC)
 :They only need to know that the sun travels east to west in the sky, and the approximate orientation of the window. (Without regard to the hemisphere or season; in re [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3253:_Sunbeam&diff=414125&oldid=414124].) [[Special:Contributions/2601:642:4C00:7984:B516:F866:A46E:3715|2601:642:4C00:7984:B516:F866:A46E:3715]] 00:10, 2 June 2026 (UTC)

@@ Line 12: / Line 12: @@
 Yes, when I was in the southern hemisphere all my sense of where the Sun and stars should be moving to was totally off.
 The sun could be reflecting off a nearby building, which would mess things up a bit.  [[Special:Contributions/64.201.132.210|64.201.132.210]] 16:17, 1 June 2026 (UTC)
@@ Line 18: / Line 19: @@
 Hang on, Randall got this wrong. Astrophotography (as defined by the Wikipedia page, the link is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrophotography) is the act of taking pictures of the night sky... where there is no sun. An error on his part? [[Special:Contributions/66.154.219.128|66.154.219.128]] 16:21, 1 June 2026 (UTC)
 Based on the title text, I'm guessing the joke is that because he said there will be sun, there will instead be clouds. His superpower is presumably summoning clouds. [[Special:Contributions/2607:FB91:17EC:E4FE:AD3:E858:6B10:E3E1|2607:FB91:17EC:E4FE:AD3:E858:6B10:E3E1]] 16:31, 1 June 2026 (UTC)