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We have an explanation for all 3234 xkcd comics, and only 73 (2.3%) are incomplete. Help us finish them!
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| Satellite Pollution |
 Title text: We're working to make sure the images are as up-to-date and accurate as possible, with a minimum number of sponsored galaxies. |
Explanation
A common concern with new satellite constellations like Starlink is that the fact that they rely on large numbers, they make ground-based astronomy more difficult by adding more noise and possibly obscuring targets.
A more recent concern is the "collapse" of Google Image Search, where trying to find a real picture of a historical event or scientific phenomenon, will now produce an unwieldly amount of results produced by generative AI.
This comic satirizes the two by talking about a hypothetical satellite company that launches *deliberately* inaccurate starmaps to be overlaid across the night sky.
Transcript
[White Hat and Ponytail are standing on the left, Cueball is on the right, in front of a poster on the wall. The poster has a portion of the Earth at the bottom, with outer space above it. The space scene has lots of stars, along with a few nebulae and galaxies. Part of the space scene is enclosed in a quadrilateral (a slightly skewed rectangle).]
- Ponytail: Aren't you worried these will be disruptive for ground-based astronomy?
- Cueball: No, why?
[Caption below comic:]
- My new company is being criticized for our satellites that deploy 100-mile-wide banners painted with inaccurate pictures of the night sky.
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