2849: Under the Stars

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Under the Stars

Title text: If you live in Los Angeles (around 33°52'N, roughly the latitude of Hermosa Beach) the black hole in V404 Cygni passes over you each day. On Christmas Day it will be directly overhead around 2pm.

Explanation

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Transcript

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Megan: I love sitting out under the stars.

Cueball: ...It's daytime.

Megan: Yeah, but the stars are all still up there.

Megan: Constellations wheel overhead; they're just painted over with blue.

Megan: Every sky is full of stars.

Cueball: That's somehow terrifying.

Megan: It's okay—just look at that sunny sky and tell yourself space isn't real.

Megan: "Daytime" is us closing our eyes and pretending it makes infinity go away.

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Discussion

Reminds me a lot of many of Randall's first few dozen XKCD's that weren't trying to be funny but just kind of sweet and observational. Laser813 (talk) 15:32, 1 November 2023 (UTC)

"Mostly void, partially stars..." 172.71.151.161 18:07, 1 November 2023 (UTC)

Is the title text trying to relate the black hole to the Star of Bethlehem? Barmar (talk) 15:49, 1 November 2023 (UTC)

No, he's just trying to make you freak out that a black hole is RIGHT ABOVE YOUR HEAD!!! ;) Elektrizikekswerk (talk) 16:31, 1 November 2023 (UTC)

Good thing I don't live in Los Angeles :) Me^{[citation needed]} 16:54, 1 November 2023 (UTC)

On the other hand, I live pretty damn near Atlanta, so it's pretty damn close to coming over my head every day... Edit: Just checked the zoomable map... it goes right over my head every day someone, i guess^{(talk i guess|le edit list)} 17:44, 1 November 2023 (UTC)

Well, I'm 20ish° away from that track (and have never actually been anywhere near that latitude, despite occasional intercontinental travel). Looks like I'm not going to be in danger of hitting a black hole.... 172.70.90.220 18:48, 1 November 2023 (UTC)

I think we need a category for "comics in full color" since there are 519 with color, but most of those aren't full color Laser813 (talk) 18:25, 1 November 2023 (UTC)

Technically, it's not in full color, because Cueball and Megan's heads are white, not skin tone someone, i guess^{(talk i guess|le edit list)} 18:48, 1 November 2023 (UTC)

As I was thinking. But I was trying to think of a good word (like "photorealistic", though it isn't quite that) to describe significant arty/colourwashed scenic elements. There are a handful of comics (I think, without trawling through the candidates I have in mind, or look for others) that are so coloured. 172.69.194.194 19:03, 1 November 2023 (UTC)

Maybe that is their skin tone, though. skin colours in comic strip land don't necessarily correspond to those in human experience land. 172.71.242.140 09:12, 2 November 2023 (UTC)

Is there something significant about V404-Cygni? Surely there are enough black holes that there's at least one that passes over every line of latitude. Barmar (talk) 19:31, 1 November 2023 (UTC)

My best guess: Randall picked it at random because it's funny. someone, i guess^{(talk i guess|le edit list)} 23:31, 1 November 2023 (UTC)

I'm thinking he chose it because of its number – V404.  Isn't '404' the internet error code for something that can't be found... something that has figuratively slipped into a black hole somewhere? RAGBRAIvet (talk) 07:29, 2 November 2023 (UTC)

As I recall, he previously quoted this particular black hole in a prior "passes directly over..." reference, which perhaps (I can't quite remember how, without searching) tied in with the requirements of that particular comic/article/whatif. And, at some point, you're gonna get yourself a 'favourite' that you'll reference whenever you get a decent chance, right? 172.70.85.28 08:45, 2 November 2023 (UTC)

Unfortunately not. What If? 161 mentions Cygnus X-1, but no mention of V404-Cygni someone, i guess^{(talk i guess|le edit list)} 00:59, 3 November 2023 (UTC)

To quote wikipedia: In 2009, the black hole in the V404 Cygni system became the first black hole to have an accurate parallax measurement for its distance from the Solar System. -- Hkmosealy (talk) 00:10, 2 November 2023 (UTC)

The Earth wobbles quite a bit. How long will it be pointing close enough (I guess within 1 minute of declination) that V404-Cygni will be over that specific line of latitude? Nitpicking (talk) 02:30, 2 November 2023 (UTC)

If I'm reading [1] correctly only 72 years, but that seems surprisingly short to me. Perhaps I am missing a conversion factor? 172.69.34.49 23:25, 2 November 2023 (UTC)

The title text reminds me of what if? 161 MrCandela (talk)

You're thinking of Cygnus X-1, a similarly named and located but completely 0different black hole. Cygnus X-1 and V404-Cygni appear to be unrelated to each other, besides being within Cygnus someone, i guess^{(talk i guess|le edit list)} 00:53, 3 November 2023 (UTC)

Out today just before noon (local time, but of course it doesn't matter much which local time) I saw in the significantly bright blue sky... a partially built planet-destroying space-station the Moon. Which of course you do. But reminds me of the time when just such a prominent daytime phased-Moon was visible when children were being let out from school and there was this conversation with a supervising member of staff (I forget why, might even have been from "today we learnt about the skies/time!" from the child involved) where we pointed out the Moon up in the bright blue sky and he refused to look!. Not sure if he suspected a practical joke, "didn't want to confuse his pupils" or genuinely was stuck on "only the Sun is up there in daytime". Didn't press the issue, but always worth a laugh about it. Whatever the reason. 162.158.74.118 12:58, 3 November 2023 (UTC) Anyone want to add in any details for the Astroinertial navigation system (ANS) used by the SR-71 to plot its position during daytime? It located itself based on tracking stars (before GPS).