1071: Exoplanets - Revision history

FaviFake: Undo revision 365766 by FaviFake (talk)

2025-02-15T14:30:06Z

Undo revision 365766 by FaviFake (talk)

FaviFake: added Category:Comics edited after their publication using HotCat

2025-02-15T14:29:31Z

added Category:Comics edited after their publication using HotCat

Firestar233 at 23:10, 14 February 2025

2025-02-14T23:10:14Z

Pie Guy: /* Explanation */ The Sun is the name of the star which Earth orbits; there are not multiple suns

2023-11-14T19:14:44Z

‎Explanation: The Sun is the name of the star which Earth orbits; there are not multiple suns

172.69.214.204: fixed grammar issue 👍

2023-09-09T22:52:51Z

fixed grammar issue 👍

FaviFake: /* Trivia */ Added fun little trivia that no one pointed out

2023-07-21T14:05:16Z

‎Trivia: Added fun little trivia that no one pointed out

FaviFake: /* Explanation */ Removed trivia in the wrong place

2023-07-21T14:00:48Z

‎Explanation: Removed trivia in the wrong place

FaviFake: /* Trivia */

2023-07-21T13:59:46Z

‎Trivia

FaviFake: Added trivia

2023-07-21T13:57:40Z

Added trivia

172.70.126.195: Fixed minor typo that was bothering me.

2022-10-01T12:36:49Z

Fixed minor typo that was bothering me.

@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 | titletext = Planets are turning out to be so common that to show all the planets in our galaxy, this chart would have to be nested in itself—with each planet replaced by a copy of the chart—at least three levels deep.
 }}
-A [http://xkcd.com/1071/large/ larger version] of this image can be found by clicking the image at xkcd.com - the comic's page can also be accessed by clicking on the comic number above.
+*A [http://xkcd.com/1071/large/ larger version] of this image can be found by clicking the image at xkcd.com - the comic's page can also be accessed by clicking on the comic number above.
 ==Explanation==
-An {{w|exoplanet}} is a planet outside of our solar system, orbiting a different star. [[786: Exoplanets|786]] planets were known in mid-2012: 778 exoplanets and the rest in our Solar System. Since then, astronomers have found thousands more. In the comic, our {{w|Solar System}}'s eight planets are depicted in the small rectangle above the central text. From this we find that the largest dots (red) and second largest dots (dark brown) indicate planets larger than Jupiter, light brown is roughly {{w|Jupiter}} or {{W|Saturn}}-sized, blue is roughly {{w|Uranus}} or {{w|Neptune}}-sized, and the tiny dots are small {{w|terrestrial planets}} (like {{w|Earth}}).
+An {{w|exoplanet}} is a planet outside of our solar system, orbiting a different star. [[786: Exoplanets|786]] planets were known in mid-2012: 778 exoplanets and the rest in our Solar System.
 We only have a few ways of {{w|Discoveries of exoplanets|finding exoplanets}}. Astronomers initially used {{w|doppler spectroscopy}}, which detects minute changes in a star's movement towards or away from us to infer the presence of large gas giants or {{w|brown dwarf}}s. Currently the most successful method is to notice when a star seems to briefly get dimmer on a repeating cycle. This may indicate that a body of matter has passed between that star and us, blocking some of the light. The {{w|Kepler (spacecraft)|Kepler space telescope}} was designed for this purpose, and has made the vast majority of exoplanet discoveries.
@@ Line 41: / Line 43: @@
 * The number of the first comic with this name, [[786: Exoplanets]], is the same number of planets featured in this comic (786 planets). It isn't clear whether this is a coincidence or Randall purposefully waited for the number of discovered planets to be the same as the old comic's number.
 {{comic discussion}}
@@ Line 47: / Line 50: @@
 [[Category:Astronomy]]
 [[Category:Exoplanets]]

@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 | titletext = Planets are turning out to be so common that to show all the planets in our galaxy, this chart would have to be nested in itself—with each planet replaced by a copy of the chart—at least three levels deep.
 }}
-*A [http://xkcd.com/1071/large/ larger version] of this image can be found by clicking the image at xkcd.com - the comic's page can also be accessed by clicking on the comic number above.
+A [http://xkcd.com/1071/large/ larger version] of this image can be found by clicking the image at xkcd.com - the comic's page can also be accessed by clicking on the comic number above.
 ==Explanation==
-An {{w|exoplanet}} is a planet outside of our solar system, orbiting a different star. [[786: Exoplanets|786]] planets were known in mid-2012: 778 exoplanets and the rest in our Solar System.
+An {{w|exoplanet}} is a planet outside of our solar system, orbiting a different star. [[786: Exoplanets|786]] planets were known in mid-2012: 778 exoplanets and the rest in our Solar System. Since then, astronomers have found thousands more. In the comic, our {{w|Solar System}}'s eight planets are depicted in the small rectangle above the central text. From this we find that the largest dots (red) and second largest dots (dark brown) indicate planets larger than Jupiter, light brown is roughly {{w|Jupiter}} or {{W|Saturn}}-sized, blue is roughly {{w|Uranus}} or {{w|Neptune}}-sized, and the tiny dots are small {{w|terrestrial planets}} (like {{w|Earth}}).
 We only have a few ways of {{w|Discoveries of exoplanets|finding exoplanets}}. Astronomers initially used {{w|doppler spectroscopy}}, which detects minute changes in a star's movement towards or away from us to infer the presence of large gas giants or {{w|brown dwarf}}s. Currently the most successful method is to notice when a star seems to briefly get dimmer on a repeating cycle. This may indicate that a body of matter has passed between that star and us, blocking some of the light. The {{w|Kepler (spacecraft)|Kepler space telescope}} was designed for this purpose, and has made the vast majority of exoplanet discoveries.
@@ Line 43: / Line 41: @@
 * The number of the first comic with this name, [[786: Exoplanets]], is the same number of planets featured in this comic (786 planets). It isn't clear whether this is a coincidence or Randall purposefully waited for the number of discovered planets to be the same as the old comic's number.
 {{comic discussion}}
@@ Line 50: / Line 47: @@
 [[Category:Astronomy]]
 [[Category:Exoplanets]]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{comic
 | number    = 1071
@@ Line 49: / Line 50: @@
 [[Category:Astronomy]]
 [[Category:Exoplanets]]

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 ==Explanation==
-An {{w|exoplanet}} is a planet outside of our solar system, orbiting a different sun. [[786: Exoplanets|786]] planets were known in mid-2012: 778 exoplanets and the rest in our Solar System.
+An {{w|exoplanet}} is a planet outside of our solar system, orbiting a different star. [[786: Exoplanets|786]] planets were known in mid-2012: 778 exoplanets and the rest in our Solar System.
 Since then, astronomers have found thousands more. In the comic, our {{w|Solar System}}'s eight planets are depicted in the small rectangle above the central text. From this we find that the largest dots (red) and second largest dots (dark brown) indicate planets larger than Jupiter, light brown is roughly {{w|Jupiter}} or {{W|Saturn}}-sized, blue is roughly {{w|Uranus}} or {{w|Neptune}}-sized, and the tiny dots are small {{w|terrestrial planets}} (like {{w|Earth}}).

@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
 ==Transcript==
-:[An large diagram of dots, mostly of varying shades of brown and greenish yellow, with a number of smaller blue dots, tiny green dots and some larger red dots. At the top of the circle are five lines of text in very different font size.]
+:[A large diagram of dots, mostly of varying shades of brown and greenish yellow, with a number of smaller blue dots, tiny green dots and some larger red dots. At the top of the circle are five lines of text in very different font size.]
 :<big>All 786 known</big>
 :<big><big><big>planets</big></big></big>

@@ Line 39: / Line 39: @@
 ==Trivia==
-*This was the first time Randall released a comic with the exact same name as a previous comic, in this case [[786: Exoplanets]], released on August 30, 2010. Since then, he has done so [[:Category:Comics sharing name|a few times]]. When this comic was released, it caused problems on xkcd as the title of the image file (<code>explanets.png</code>) was the same for the two comics. This was resolved by renaming the old comic's image, adding the year of its release to the title: <code>explanets_2010.png</code>.
+* This was the first time Randall released a comic with the exact same name as a previous comic, in this case [[786: Exoplanets]], released on August 30, 2010. Since then, he has done so [[:Category:Comics sharing name|a few times]]. When this comic was released, it caused problems on xkcd as the title of the image file (<code>explanets.png</code>) was the same for the two comics. This was resolved by renaming the old comic's image, adding the year of its release to the title: <code>explanets_2010.png</code>.
 {{comic discussion}}

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:00, 21 July 2023
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	This comic's design is similar to the {{w\|color perception test\|Ishihara Color Test}}, a series of circular pictures made of colored dots, used to detect red-green color blindness. However, Randall's picture probably does not contain a hidden number like it did in [[1213: Combination Vision Test]].		This comic's design is similar to the {{w\|color perception test\|Ishihara Color Test}}, a series of circular pictures made of colored dots, used to detect red-green color blindness. However, Randall's picture probably does not contain a hidden number like it did in [[1213: Combination Vision Test]].
−
−	Two different xkcd comics have the title "Exoplanets". The first was [[786: Exoplanets]], and this one was drawn at a time when 786 exoplanets had been found. Probably not a coincidence when it comes to [[Randall]]. This is the first time Randall released a comic with the exact same name as a previous comic. Since then he has done so [[:Category:Comics sharing name\|a few times]]. When this comic was released it caused problems on xkcd as the title of the image files were the same for the two comics. This was resolved by renaming the original image adding the year 2010, the year when it was released, two years before this one was released.

	See also [[:Category:Exoplanets]] and this {{w\|lists of planets#Orbiting other stars\|list of lists of exoplanets}}.		See also [[:Category:Exoplanets]] and this {{w\|lists of planets#Orbiting other stars\|list of lists of exoplanets}}.

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 Most of Kepler's discoveries are between the sizes of Earth and Neptune, but it's sensitive enough to detect planets smaller than Mercury (if the orbital plane is aligned with us). Kepler is only able to observe relatively close stars in a {{w|File:LombergA1024.jpg|narrow field of view}}. The great number of nearby planets implies there should be {{w|Carl Sagan|billions}} of planets in our galaxy, [[1339|assuming]] our local arm is not uniquely abundant.
-The title text refers to this by saying that to show them all, each dot on the chart should hold another chart with the same amount of dots; each of these dots should then also have a similar chart, and then do this one more time for a three level deep chart. This chart would have space for 786^4 planets (786*786*786*786 = 382 billions). Our {{w|Milky Way}} contains about 100-400 billion stars. But if the chart were only two levels deep there would "only" be room for 786^3 = 0.5 billion planets.
+The title text refers to this by saying that to show them all, each dot on the chart should hold another chart with the same amount of dots; each of these dots should then also have a similar chart, and then do this one more time for a three level deep chart. This chart would have space for 786^4 planets (786*786*786*786 = 382 billion). Our {{w|Milky Way}} contains about 100-400 billion stars. But if the chart were only two levels deep there would "only" be room for 786^3 = 0.5 billion planets.
 This comic's design is similar to the {{w|color perception test|Ishihara Color Test}}, a series of circular pictures made of colored dots, used to detect red-green color blindness. However, Randall's picture probably does not contain a hidden number like it did in [[1213: Combination Vision Test]].