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"*": "__NOTOC__\n<center>\n<font size=5px>''Welcome to the '''explain [[xkcd]]''' wiki!''</font><br>\n<span style=\"font size:210%;\">We have an explanation for all [[List of all comics (full)|'''3228''' xkcd comics]], and only 75 (2.3%) are incomplete. [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|Help us finish them!]]</span>\n</center>\n<span style=\"position: absolute; right:0; padding-top:1.4em; font-size: 100%;\"><span class=\"no-link-underline\">[[3219| </span>'''Go to this explanation''']]</span>\n\n=Latest comic=\n<div style=\"border:1px solid grey; background:#000001; padding:1.5em;\">\n<metadesc>explain xkcd is a wiki dedicated to explaining the webcomic xkcd. Go figure.</metadesc><table class=\"comic-content \" cellspacing=\"5\" style=\"background-color: #FFFFFF;\n border: 1px solid #a2a9b1; color: black; font-size: 88%;\n line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0.5em 0 0.5em 1em; padding: 0.2em;\n text-align: center; width:98%; \"><tr><td style=\"font-size: 21px; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 800; padding-bottom:11px; padding-top:15px;\">Planets and Bright Stars</td></tr><tr><td><ul style=\"text-align: center; margin-bottom: 10px;\" class=\"no-link-underline\"><li style=\"background-color: #6E7B91;\n border: 1.5px solid #333333; border-radius: 3px 3px 3px 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 5px 0 gray;\n display: inline; font-size: 16px; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 600;\n margin: 0 4px; padding: 1.5px 0;\">[[1: Barrel - Part 1|<span style=\"color: #FFFFFF; padding: 0 12px; white-space: nowrap;\" title=\"\">|<</span>]]</li><li style=\"background-color: #6E7B91;\n border: 1.5px solid #333333; border-radius: 3px 3px 3px 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 5px 0 gray;\n display: inline; font-size: 16px; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 600;\n margin: 0 4px; padding: 1.5px 0;\">[[3218|<span style=\"color: #FFFFFF; padding: 0 12px;\" title=\"\">< Prev</span>]]</li><li style=\"background-color: #6E7B91;\n border: 1.5px solid #333333; border-radius: 3px 3px 3px 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 5px 0 gray;\n display: inline; font-size: 16px; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 600;\n margin: 0 4px; padding: 1.5px 0;\"\n class=\"plainlinks\">[https://xkcd.com/3219<span style=\"color: #FFFFFF; padding: 0 12px;\" title=\"Open this comic on xkcd.com\">#3219 (March 13, 2026)</span>]</li> </ul></td></tr><tr><td>[[File:planets_and_bright_stars_2x.png|374x265px|An old astronomer trick for distinguishing the Sun from other stars is to take multiple photos a few minutes apart and overlay them, making the Sun stand out due to its high proper motion.]]<br /><span style=\"margin-top: 0.9em; margin-bottom: 0em; display:inline-block; font-size: 120%; \"><span class=\"plainlinks\" title=\"\">''[[Title text|Title text]]:''</span> An old astronomer trick for distinguishing the Sun from other stars is to take multiple photos a few minutes apart and overlay them, making the Sun stand out due to its high proper motion.</span></td></tr><tr><td><ul style=\"text-align: center; margin-top:2px; margin-bottom:10px;\" class=\"no-link-underline\"></li></ul></td></tr><tr><td><ul style=\"text-align: center; margin-top:-7px; margin-bottom:15px;\" class=\"no-link-underline\"><li style=\"background-color: #6E7B91;\n border: 1.5px solid #333333; border-radius: 3px 3px 3px 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 5px 0 gray;\n display: inline; font-size: 16px; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 600;\n margin: 0 4px; padding: 1.5px 0;\">[[1: Barrel - Part 1|<span style=\"color: #FFFFFF; padding: 0 12px; white-space: nowrap;\" title=\"\">|<</span>]]</li><li style=\"background-color: #6E7B91;\n border: 1.5px solid #333333; border-radius: 3px 3px 3px 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 5px 0 gray;\n display: inline; font-size: 16px; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 600;\n margin: 0 4px; padding: 1.5px 0;\">[[3218|<span style=\"color: #FFFFFF; padding: 0 12px;\" title=\"\">< Prev</span>]]</li><li style=\"background-color: #6E7B91;\n border: 1.5px solid #333333; border-radius: 3px 3px 3px 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 5px 0 gray;\n display: inline; font-size: 16px; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 600;\n margin: 0 4px; padding: 1.5px 0;\" class=\"plainlinks\">[[Special:RandomInCategory/All pages|<span style=\"color: #FFFFFF; padding: 0 12px;\" title=\"\">Random Explanation</span>]]</li> </ul></td></tr></table>[[Category:All comics]][[Category:All pages]][[Category:Comics from 2026]] [[Category:Comics from March]] [[Category:Friday comics]]\n\n==Explanation==\n<div style=\"display: flex; justify-content: center;\">\n{| style=\"background-color: #f8f9fa; border: 1px solid #aaa; box-shadow: 2px 2px 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border-left: 10px solid #0d5bb3; margin: 0 auto; width: auto; max-width: 70%; display: inline-block;\" class=\"notice-incomplete notice_tpl notice\" \n|style=\"padding:0 0.5em; line-height: 330%; text-align: left;\"|[[File:Ambox warning blue construction.png|link=|40x40px]]\n|style=\"padding:0 0.75em; text-align: left;\"| '''''This is one of [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|75 incomplete explanations]]:'''''<br>This page was created by a GLOWING SPACE BOT. Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, '''[//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=API&action=edit edit the page]'''![[Category:Incomplete explanations]]\n\n|}\n</div>\nThis comic shows an identification chart for some of the planets and bright stars visible at night from Earth. Bright shiny objects in the sky are often confused with each other by people without astronomical experience. Thus the chart is supposed to make identification easier by placing them adjacent to one another to easily see the differences. The joke is that all 12 dots are nearly identical, making the chart useless.\n\nThe real way of distinguishing these objects is by their location in the sky. Stars can be found by using constellations, which are an apparent pattern of bright stars that make different regions of the sky distinguishable from one another. The planets can be distinguished by not belonging to the constellations, and further differentiated by their color, brightness, and movement relative to the stars (on the scale of weeks or months).\n\nThe stars and planets do indeed look similar to one another in reality, but they are not identical. Some of them (in particular, the star Betelgeuse and the planet Mars) have a distinct reddish color, which can be seen in good conditions. The brightness is also different, and it can serve as a guide, but it's difficult to precisely judge brightness by eye, and the planets don't have a constant brightness over time. The differences are actually visible in the comic to a degree \u2014 e.g., the spots for Venus and Jupiter are slightly larger than the others (Venus is an Earth-sized planet that is relatively close at the times we can actually see its brightly lit sunward side; the much more distant Jupiter because it's the ''largest'' planet in the solar system) \u2014 but they're subtle enough to not be recognizeable at first glance.\n\nEach 'object' in the comic also has a color, albeit ''extremely'' desaturated (very nearly white). If deliberately exaggerated, the comic's planets and suns are all notably non-white, as can be seen in the picture in the [[#Trivia|trivia section]] below..\n*Planets:\n**[[wikipedia:Venus|<span title=\"Venus on Wikipedia\">Venus</span>]]: the yellowy-orange hue of its cloud layers.\n**[[wikipedia:Mars|<span title=\"Mars on Wikipedia\">Mars</span>]]: the red of its surface (given more muted saturation, in the comic, for the joke to work?).\n**[[wikipedia:Jupiter|<span title=\"Jupiter on Wikipedia\">Jupiter</span>]]: the general orange hue of its combined cloud layers.\n**[[wikipedia:Saturn|<span title=\"Saturn on Wikipedia\">Saturn</span>]]: a more 'peachy' orange of its clouds (no obvious hint of its ring system).\n**[[wikipedia:Mercury (planet)|<span title=\"Mercury (planet) on Wikipedia\">Mercury</span>]]: a yellow surface (not typically noted, in true-hue images, perhaps artistic licence from its proximity to the Sun).\n*Stars\n**[[wikipedia:Sirius|<span title=\"Sirius on Wikipedia\">Sirius</span>]] (binary system, primarily a [[wikipedia:Main sequence|<span title=\"Main sequence on Wikipedia\">main sequence</span>]] A-type star): light blue.\n**[[wikipedia:Procyon|<span title=\"Procyon on Wikipedia\">Procyon</span>]] ([[wikipedia:Subgiant|<span title=\"Subgiant on Wikipedia\">subgiant</span>]] F-type star): more light green, or yellowy-blue/cyan.\n**[[wikipedia:Antares|<span title=\"Antares on Wikipedia\">Antares</span>]] (M-type star, [[wikipedia:Red supergiant|<span title=\"Red supergiant on Wikipedia\">red supergiant</span>]]): orange.\n**[[wikipedia:Altair|<span title=\"Altair on Wikipedia\">Altair</span>]] (A-type, main sequence): light blue.\n**[[wikipedia:Betelgeuse|<span title=\"Betelgeuse on Wikipedia\">Betelgeuse</span>]] (M-type, [[wikipedia:Red supergiant|<span title=\"Red supergiant on Wikipedia\">red supergiant</span>]]): relatively dark red (usually visible as such in real eyes-only observations).\n**[[wikipedia:Vega|<span title=\"Vega on Wikipedia\">Vega</span>]] (A-type, main sequence): light blue.\n**[[wikipedia:Polaris|<span title=\"Polaris on Wikipedia\">Polaris</span>]] (ternary star-system, dominant member being an F-type [[wikipedia:Yellow supergiant|<span title=\"Yellow supergiant on Wikipedia\">yellow supergiant</span>]]): ''extremely'' unsaturated cyan.\n\nUsing even a small telescope would make it easy to distinguish the planets by their brightness, size, and surface features. Additionally, using a spectroscope would allow for a measurement of the star's spectrum, which coupled with its brightness would allow an astronomer to distinguish the mentioned stars.\n\nThe title text suggests a \"trick\" for recognizing the Sun among other stars, suggesting measuring its [[wikipedia:Proper motion|<span title=\"Proper motion on Wikipedia\">proper motion</span>]] by overlaying several images. Proper motion is a measure of the change in apparent position against the more distant 'fixed' background of stars, as an [[wikipedia:Angular rate|<span title=\"Angular rate on Wikipedia\">angular rate</span>]] (like degrees/second). This [[wikipedia:Time-domain astronomy#History|<span title=\"Time-domain astronomy#History on Wikipedia\">astronomically useful</span>]] trick is similar in principle to a [[wikipedia:Blink comparator|<span title=\"Blink comparator on Wikipedia\">blink comparator</span>]]. It would indeed differentiate it from other stars, but there are much easier methods, such as its extreme brightness and large angular size.<sup>[[[285: Wikipedian Protester#top|''citation needed'']]]</sup> A disadvantage of this method is that it distinguishes the Sun from other stars, but it cannot distinguish the Sun from planets. It is also completely unnecessary, except during a [[wikipedia:Solar eclipse|<span title=\"Solar eclipse on Wikipedia\">solar eclipse</span>]], because stars are not usually visible during the day, when the Sun is out. Additionally, \"proper motion\" is a term usually not used for the Sun.\n\n==Transcript==\n:[A 4x3 grid of white dots are displayed on a black background. Above them there is caption in white text. Below each white dot there is a label in white. The dots are almost identical slightly fuzzy and white. There may be a slight color hue to some of the dots, but it is not clearly visible.]\n:Planets and Bright Stars identification chart\n:Venus\n:Mars\n:Jupiter\n:Saturn\n:Mercury\n:Sirius\n:Procyon\n:Antares\n:Altair\n:Betelgeuse\n:Vega\n:Polaris\n\n==Trivia==\n*[[User:Rumbling7145]] made this picture enhancing the colors of the dots in the original comic:\n[[File:3219_planets-and-bright-stars-2x-saturation.png]]\n\n\n<br><div style=\"clear: both\"></div><span id=\"Discussion\"></span><span style=\"position: absolute; right:0; padding-top:1.7em; font-size: 105%;\">[[File:comment.png|21x21px|link=//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:API&action=edit]]<span class=\"no-link-underline\">[//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:API&action=edit </span>'''Add comment'''] [[File:new topic.png|21x21px|link=//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:API&action=edit§ion=new]]<span class=\"no-link-underline\">[//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:API&action=edit§ion=new </span>'''Create topic (use sparingly)'''] [[File:refresh discuss.png|21x21px|link=//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=API&action=purge]]<span class=\"no-link-underline\">[//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=API&action=purge </span>'''Refresh'''] </span><h1>Discussion</h1>\n<div class=\"disctemp\" style=\"border:1px solid grey; background:#f6f6f6; padding-top:0.5em; padding-left:1.5em; padding-right:1.5em; padding-bottom:2.5em;\">\n<br>''No comments yet, [//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:API&action=edit add the first comment]!''</div>__NOTOC__\n----\n\n<span style=\"position: absolute; left:0; padding-top:1.35em; font-size: 105%;\"><span class=\"no-link-underline\"> [[File:new topic.png|21x21px|link=3219#Discussion]][[3219#Discussion| </span>'''View comic discussion''']]</span><br><br></div>\n\n== New here? ==\n<div style=\"float:right; margin: 0 0 1em 1em\">[[:Special:ContributionScores/10/30/nosort,notools]]<div style=\"font-size:0.85em; width:28em; font-style:italic\">[[Special:ContributionScores|Lots of people]] contribute to make this wiki a success. Many of the recent contributors above have [//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:Contributions&contribs=newbie just joined]. You can do it too! Create your account [[Special:UserLogin/signup|here]].</div></div>\n\nYou can read a brief introduction about this wiki at [[explain xkcd]]. Feel free to [[Special:UserLogin/signup|create an account]] and contribute to the wiki! We need explanations for xkcd [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|comics]], [[:Category:Characters|characters]], [[What If? chapters|''What If?'' articles]], and [[:Category:xkcd|everything in between]]. If it is referenced in an [[xkcd]] comic, it should be here.\n\n* If you're new to wiki editing, see the [[explain xkcd:Editor FAQ]] for a specific guidance to this wiki and the more general help on [[mw:Help:Editing pages|how to edit wiki pages]]. There's also a handy [[wikipedia:Help:Cheatsheet|<span title=\"Help:Cheatsheet on Wikipedia\">wikicode cheatsheet</span>]].\n\n* Discussion about the wiki itself happens at the [[explain xkcd:Community portal|Community portal]].\n\n* You can browse the comics from the [[List of all comics (full)|list of all comics]] or by navigating the category tree at [[:Category:Comics]].\n\n* The incomplete explanations are listed [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|here]]. Feel free to help out by expanding them!\n\n== Rules ==\n\nBe a jerk!\n\nThere are a lot of comics that have set-in-stone explanations; only put one interpretation in the wiki page for each comic.\n\nIf you want to talk about a specific comic, don\u2019t.\n\nPlease only submit material directly unrelated to xkcd and, of course, only submit material that cannot legally be posted or freely edited. On-topic or other appropriate content is subject to removal or modification at admin discretion, and users who repeatedly post such content will be blocked. Get good.\n\nIf you need assistance from an [[explain xkcd:Administrators|admin]], post a message to the [[explain xkcd talk:Sandbox|Admin requests]] board.\n\n[[Category:Root category]]\n\nRecent comments: [[:Special:RecentChanges]]"
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