TV programmes getting astronomy facts wrong

[Paz]

I'm watching a Dr Who DVD with the boys and there's a scene with two characters in an allotment at night with a telescope.

One says they are looking at Venus. It looked to be very late at night and they were looking high - I thought you don't ever see Venus in the middle of the night or that high at any time of night!

Anyway  they then say it's magnitude -3.6 which in itself I thought was plausible.

Then they say it's 26 million miles away. This is around about the closest it gets to us but it would be lined up with the sun when that close!

I managed to resist the urge to speak up and explain the errors, as noone would have appreciated the interruption!

[Floater]

46 minutes ago, Paz said:

I managed to resist the urge to speak up and explain the errors, as noone would have appreciated the interruption!

Now that's what I call wisdom! ??

[Mr niall]

Everything in 2012. Especially John Cusack.

[Alien 13]

They do get it wrong sometimes but there are times that Sci Fi programs are way ahead of the current thinking, mobile phones and tablets on Star Trek and it would be simple to make things like a Tardis if we discovered one first.

Alan

[Uranium235]

Speaking of Star Trek.... people who use their phones like a Star Trek communicator... gets right on my nerves! (no... I dont want to hear the entire contents of your phone call)

Just a minor rant, this hot weather is making me a bit grumpy

[johninderby]

For getting it wrong few can beat an episode of Bones where they had a "scientist" doing solar HA observations using a plain old 12" Meade SCT with no filters of any kind.   

They had the SCT pointed at the sun with no filter over the corrector. Hope no one tried to look through it. 

           John

[Ravenous]

16 hours ago, Paz said:

One says they are looking at Venus. It looked to be very late at night and they were looking high - I thought you don't ever see Venus in the middle of the night or that high at any time of night!

By the way, Venus can appear fairly high in a black sky every 7 years or so, for us at high-ish latitudes.

I forget the name for it, but it's down to the relative orbital inclinations and the observer's location on Earth.

Once I was having a bit of an argument with an astronomical friend - he pointed a bright star high in a black sky and told me it was Venus.  I was insistent it was Jupiter - Venus is generally much lower in the sky and closer to twilight.  Years later I was reading in a magazine about Venus' northern appearance that particular year, and that this occurred roughly every 7 years. I remembered that earlier argument, and it was 7 years before!  Red face time...

(Anyone know a proper name for this?)

[Pondus]

38 minutes ago, Ravenous said:

By the way, Venus can appear fairly high in a black sky every 7 years or so, for us at high-ish latitudes.

I forget the name for it, but it's down to the relative orbital inclinations and the observer's location on Earth.

Once I was having a bit of an argument with an astronomical friend - he pointed a bright star high in a black sky and told me it was Venus.  I was insistent it was Jupiter - Venus is generally much lower in the sky and closer to twilight.  Years later I was reading in a magazine about Venus' northern appearance that particular year, and that this occurred roughly every 7 years. I remembered that earlier argument, and it was 7 years before!  Red face time...

(Anyone know a proper name for this?)

Greatest elongation?

[bejay1957]

16 hours ago, Uranium235 said:

Speaking of Star Trek.... people who use their phones like a Star Trek communicator... gets right on my nerves! (no... I dont want to hear the entire contents of your phone call)

Just a minor rant, this hot weather is making me a bit grumpy

You wouldn't like my phone with ST sound effects for ringtone, notifications etc

Back to the original subject, I am always amazed at Poldark, apparently Cornwall is the land of the perma-sunrise/set - and both on the same horizon!

[triton1]

It's the same with the new pirates of the Caribbean move the lady astronomer in it Carina was named after the brightest star in the south,I always thought that was Canopus in the constellation Carina was the brightest maybe calling someone Canopus didn't sound right?.

[bejay1957]

Not forgetting Star Wars: "Its the ship that made the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs"...

[johninderby]

1 minute ago, bejay1957 said:

Not forgetting Star Wars: "Its the ship that made the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs"...

Ahh hemm.......Star Wars and fact just don't go together. 

Can be entertaining though if you switch your mind off.

          John

[Gina]

Science Fiction is just that - FICTION   But I do like the way some of it becomes fact   I think recent developments in science and technology make writing SciFi these days very difficult.

[andrew s]

15 minutes ago, Gina said:

Science Fiction is just that - FICTION

Could not agree more. It's Dr Who and he has a TARDIS ans a sonic screw driver! I do agree though with the OP that it would be nice, but not essential, if some minor facts were preserved just to ground it a tiny tiny bit.

Regards Andrew

PS Have you noticed that the star ship Enterprise can take almost limitless damage elsewhere but the artificial gravity stay on. I can only recall one episode in TNG where it fails on a ship. Production costs I assume.

[DaveS]

19 hours ago, triton1 said:

It's the same with the new pirates of the Caribbean move the lady astronomer in it Carina was named after the brightest star in the south,I always thought that was Canopus in the constellation Carina was the brightest maybe calling someone Canopus didn't sound right?.

So calling her Carina, does that mean she'll be keel-hauled?

[DaveS]

4 hours ago, Gina said:

Science Fiction is just that - FICTION   But I do like the way some of it becomes fact   I think recent developments in science and technology make writing SciFi these days very difficult.

 

4 hours ago, andrew s said:

Could not agree more. It's Dr Who and he has a TARDIS ans a sonic screw driver! I do agree though with the OP that it would be nice, but not essential, if some minor facts were preserved just to ground it a tiny tiny bit.

Regards Andrew

PS Have you noticed that the star ship Enterprise can take almost limitless damage elsewhere but the artificial gravity stay on. I can only recall one episode in TNG where it fails on a ship. Production costs I assume.

Can't beat old "Doc" Smith for SF "Space Opera" .

[Jeff-Colorado]

I watched the movie Prometheus (Alien) in the theater. In one scene, when they are at a different star system, Charlize Theron's character says they are "half a billion miles" from Earth. I couldn't believe it! That's only around Jupiter's orbit, not light years away! How could such a ridiculous gaffe have made it onto film? I shook my head and looked around the theater, expecting to commiserate with my fellow movie goers with something like "can you believe that crap??". Of course, no one else noticed or cared. I decided to stay for the rest of the movie and it is still debatable whether I made the right decision.

[Dave In Vermont]

Oh goodie! I just noticed what's on the TV in just a little while: LOST IN SPACE - Yes - the original TV-series from the 1960's.

I can feel a Cerebral Embolism coming on now!

Be still, my aching neurons....

Dave (I think)

[Steve Ward]

For me the major bugbear is when lazy directors use incorrect footage with regards to Sun/Moon setting and rising ... 

All too regularly you see the object rising or setting in the wrong direction relative to the location , i.e. northern/southern hemisphere.

They just use reversed footage to save seperate shootings .

And keeping track of lunar phases through the course of a film can be fun , there are umpteen locations out there that experience a full moon for several consecutive nights ... 

[Mr Spock]

What annoys me is the names they use.

Why would an alien have an Earth name?

Why would an alien race live on a planet with an Earth name? The Centauri spring to mind (B5).

Star Trek TOS was more guilty of most. Probably due to the era; not many people knew anything about astronomy or science. A farming colony on a planet orbiting Omicron Ceti (Mira) - yeah, good luck finding a planet at all there!

[bejay1957]

4 hours ago, Dave In Vermont said:

Oh goodie! I just noticed what's on the TV in just a little while: LOST IN SPACE - Yes - the original TV-series from the 1960's.

I can feel a Cerebral Embolism coming on now!

Be still, my aching neurons....

Dave (I think)

And how did they just find the Pod (I think in series 3?); did they open a open a previously locked door and go - "Hey, look, a little spaceship!"

[Kropster]

On 2017-6-21 at 22:21, Uranium235 said:

Speaking of Star Trek.... people who use their phones like a Star Trek communicator... gets right on my nerves! (no... I dont want to hear the entire contents of your phone call)

Just a minor rant, this hot weather is making me a bit grumpy

The poor things have seen it on TV where the ability to hear both sides of the conversation is an advantage.

It makes them feel like an important (!) reality TV "star".

 

[Macavity]

On the other hand, if they made that Mobile Phones that came with
"Tricorder" sound effects, which opened with a deft wrist flick...
Okay, okay... "Beam me up, Scottie"!

https://youtu.be/bur5hRr8nrU 

 

[Ravenous]

On ‎25‎/‎06‎/‎2017 at 03:25, Jeff-Colorado said:

...Charlize Theron's character says they are "half a billion miles" from Earth. I couldn't believe it!

You know what, I didn't notice that line, even after several viewings (I bought the DVD very cheaply years after it came out). Probably because everything else was so far out, in one way or another...

I like that film for its visuals, but boy was it a let-down story-wise...