Talk:1298: Exoplanet Neighborhood

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
Revision as of 18:53, 2 December 2013 by 199.27.128.89 (talk)
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Why the big empty circle around Earth?? 108.162.231.42 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Because they're all far away and he wants to make the reader feel lonely. 108.162.216.30 13:42, 2 December 2013 (UTC)

So all these other planets are close to each other, but Earth is far from them? Or does the distance between circles have no meaning besides the empty space around Earth's circle?108.162.216.29 15:16, 2 December 2013 (UTC)

Most of these planets are hypothetical (last I checked, we knew of five such planets), and the nearest to us are in Tau Ceti, only 12 ly away. I'd say the space around Earth is metaphorical. We're kind of like Samwise as he and Frodo leave the Shire; those first few miles seem like an enormous distance. Fryhole (talk) 18:50, 2 December 2013 (UTC)

Why New-New-America? And why not New-New-Netherlands? Quoti (talk) 15:36, 2 December 2013 (UTC)

Changed it to New-New-World, as that makes a lot more sense than New-New-America. The Americas were commonly referred to as the 'New World', and the reference alludes to 'Sailing for the new world'. Andyd273 (talk) 15:49, 2 December 2013 (UTC)

After staring at this graph for a while, I got a sudden urge to play Osmos... Andyd273 (talk) 16:03, 2 December 2013 (UTC)

The title seems to have changed to "Exoplanet Neighborhood" and the mouseover text to what used to be the title... Xseo (talk) 16:36, 2 December 2013 (UTC)

This is very similar. It was of June 2012, so quite a bit has been discovered since then. By Kepler, I think? --Irino. (talk) 17:36, 2 December 2013 (UTC)

It may just be me, but this looks like one of those colour-blindness tests (I'm r-g colour blind). I was half-looking for some hidden message or number or sumfink in the pattern of dos, but of course I'm the one that usually misses out on those things :D Can colour-typical viewers see anything odd or unexpected in the pattern of dots? Oh, also, in the explanation of the comic here, it talks about the "reddish tone" and "grey" disks ... they all look grey to me, although some are darker than others :D Note that http://xkcd.com/1071/ does NOT remind me of a colour blindness test, except in the most superficial way - a circle of dots. I think this one, 1298, does because Randall has used pastel tones. Cheers, Jon. --Jon. (talk) 16:36, 2 December 2013 (UTC)

Nothing odd or unexpected in the pattern of dots, Jon. No hidden "color blind test"-like message. 199.27.128.89 18:53, 2 December 2013 (UTC)