3012: The Future of Orion

The Future of Orion

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Title text: Dinosaur Cosmics

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Explanation

This is one of 52 incomplete explanations: Created by a TYRANNOSTARUS REX - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page!

Stars in the night sky change over time. Some, like Betelgeuse (a star in the constellation Orion), are expected to go supernova in less than about 100,000 years, and then disappear from the night sky. All stars are moving, relative to the center of the galaxy and to each other. This results in apparent movement in our sky (proper motion), a function of the actual relative movement, and the star's distance from us. (The star with the fastest proper motion is Barnard's Star, which has moved a noticeable distance across the sky since it was first photographed in 1888. It both has a high relative movement and is the fourth-closest star to us.) This comic shows some changes in Orion from the stars moving and recommends revising the constellation from depicting a hunter to depicting a Tyrannosaurus from Ryan North's Dinosaur Comics. There are no dinosaur constellations, because dinosaur fossils had not yet been discovered when constellations were first being named in around 3000 BCE. The first fossil identified as a dinosaur was found in 1676. (There is, however, a constellation of another large, fearsome reptile, albeit mythological - a dragon.)

Note that this means the new constellation won't appear until the current name has lasted twenty times as long as it already has, highlighting the absurdity of "needing" to plan for this event.

The title text is another joke regarding Dinosaur Comics, replacing "comics" with "cosmics" because we're talking about a dinosaur in the sky.

Orion is also mentioned in 1020: Orion Nebula.

Transcript

This is one of 27 incomplete transcripts: Do NOT delete this tag too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page!

Orion Today:

[Star map of Orion constellation 2024]

Predicted Changes:

Scribbled on: Star movement

Scribbled on: Star Death (Betelgeuse)

[Star Map's predicted changes over next couple centuries]

Orion in the future:

Scribbled on: Suggested lines

[New lines are drawn overlaying the future changes]

[Dinosaur Comics dinosaur overlayed]

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Discussion

this is my second first comment. -P?sych??otic?pot??at???o (talk) 17:47, 15 November 2024 (UTC)

This is my first second comment. 162.158.63.8 17:56, 15 November 2024 (UTC)

I plead the third. 172.69.136.188 19:57, 15 November 2024 (UTC)

you mean the fifth????? Caliban (talk) 20:18, 16 November 2024 (UTC)

Probably not. I believe it's a perfectly legitimate request. If not because of the muddy boots, then because of the MRE wrappers they leave around (or don't put in the right recycling bin). 172.68.205.92 21:51, 16 November 2024 (UTC)

This is my French: comment?172.69.194.226 13:26, 18 November 2024 (UTC)

okay we need to destroy the stars, any suggestions? Caliban (talk) 19:02, 15 November 2024 (UTC)

Don't worry, the insects should take care of it. (If the rocks don't do it first) Trogdor147 (talk) 20:23, 15 November 2024 (UTC)

Maybe add a reference to #1020? 172.71.147.100 19:43, 15 November 2024 (UTC)

now instead of a hunter with a dong, its a dinosaur with diarrhea! guess who (if you want to | what i have done) 19:47, 15 November 2024 (UTC)

"There are no dinosaur constellations, because dinosaur fossils had not yet been discovered when constellations were first being named in around 3000 BCE." Faulty logic, compare: "There are no microscope constellations, because microscopes had not yet been discovered when constellations were first being named in around 3000 BCE." 162.158.154.221 20:03, 15 November 2024 (UTC)

link. Besides, weren't legends about dragons blamed on people finding dinosaur bones? -- Hkmaly (talk) 21:48, 15 November 2024 (UTC)

Besides, Microscopium isn't even 300 years old, much less 5000 108.162.245.113

Has anyone figured out how far in the future Randall has projected the new star positions? 172.69.135.5 21:04, 15 November 2024 (UTC)

There ARE dinosaur constellations, nine of them in factp 108.162.245.113

Meh, dinosaurs. Where are the zombie constellations? 172.69.109.77 08:54, 16 November 2024 (UTC)

My favorite part is that the dinosaur sill has a dong Apollo11 (talk) 20:04, 16 November 2024 (UTC)

If dinosaurs had penises, they would have usually been retracted within their cloaca (Alnilam) so North's T. rex is either excited to get with a female, or Orion's sword could instead be excrement being expelled. 172.70.207.184 08:14, 17 November 2024 (UTC)

It's funny because one of the first attempts to depict dinosaurs in their natural environment - the painting "Duria Antiquior" - had pooping dinosaurs. It was apparently both a reference to coprolites as well as simple scatological humour. --172.71.164.73 08:35, 19 November 2024 (UTC)

Dinosaur Comics nearly always uses the same art in every strip, with the T-Rex in the same six poses. But the pose used in this XKCD strip isn't one of them. --172.71.254.101 18:05, 17 November 2024 (UTC)

Yes-and-no. It seems to be a pretty much perfect (or even exact, I haven't dug down into it at the pixel level to check it's not just a very good Randall-redrawn version) mirror image of the 'panel 6' pose. 172.70.58.5 19:33, 17 November 2024 (UTC)

When I was a kindergartner my parents had a mini wet bar inside a 1.5+ foot diameter star globe. I remember thinking how much higher quality my own drawings for class were than the really terrible stick figures formed by the lines of the constellations, and how poorly they matched their intended subjects. I still think about that when I see stick figure comics like XKCD. But as an adult I realize that their purpose wasn't art, it was mnemonic help for navigators, just like everyone in the northern hemisphere growing up away from city lights learns the big dipper instead of the Ursa bears, because it's easier to remember for finding the north star.

So, what I'm getting at is, maybe it would be a good idea to replace a bad constellation with the winner of a competition (including with the status quo) for something better every century or so. I'm not sure we really need to take proper motion into account for that though. 108.162.245.132 02:56, 18 November 2024 (UTC)

that competition gives the risk of a constellation named 'Starry McStarface.' 172.71.195.49 (talk) 00:22, 19 November 2024 (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

I would vote for that over Fornax the furnace or Caelum the chisel. 172.68.23.92 10:21, 19 November 2024 (UTC)

Should there be a Dinosaur Comics category? This one, 145, 1452, 1350, 2712, 2765, a few featuring Ryan North... 108.162.241.175 17:48, 20 November 2024 (UTC) The future of Orion: Released before the game totally finished, with lots of bugs, only one DLC. 799571388 (talk) 07:59, 21 November 2024 (UTC)

Just dropping in to take credit for the (yet unused?!) portmanteau "Dinosaurion". 104.32.72.95 19:36, 28 October 2025 (UTC)
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