Fake astronomy news.

[KingClinton]

This is why the public are so misinformed.
I cringed reading this.

It's only a pic of the first page of the article, what a mess!

[Ozypic]

That's great we better put it in our calendar... that must be why it was blurry for me last night , too many people to share the view with ... Phill

[KingClinton]

Did you use at least 20X magnification?
Going to be tough spotting the rings otherwise.

[KingNothing13]

Whoa - what a hot mess that is.

[JimMinCT]

I was asked about this last night on FB... Sheeesh...
I did set the person straight as to the viewing potential of Saturn, though...

[bobharmony]

This explains the text I got from my brother-in-law telling me to get out and look at Saturn last night
Bob

[JayTee]

We need a little truth in lending here.

Here is the link to the Space.com story which prompted the CBS news story: https://www.space.com/bright-saturn-at- ... -2019.html

And here is the CBS news story by the writer shown in this post: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/saturn-wil ... telescope/

As you can see, there is a lot of fabrication in the article that Clinton found. I'm not saying the originator of that article doesn't know they got it wrong but that info didn't come from either of the above two legitimate articles.

Cheers,
JT

[bobharmony]

That CBS article is rather sad. "Saturn would rank as the seventh-brightest star if it was compared to the 21 brightest stars" - what would happen if compared to the 100 brights stars, would it rank differently? The repeated use of the word "shiniest" is annoying at best. And the path that has it rising in the east-southeast, and setting in the west-northwest - that is quite a jump in declination over a period of several hours.

Rant ends - it is always a beautiful sight and reporting that gets people to look up can't be all bad.

Bob

[helicon]

Just shows how uninformed people are. If folks knew about everything they could see in a telescope I'm sure many more people would be amateur astronomers. The public as a whole just doesn't look up much anymore. Instead they are glued to their phones or watching HD TV. And light pollution is pretty bad in most spots where folks live, so going and and seeing a couple of stars up there (or planets) is not enough to whet the apetite.

[seer]

Just shows how uninformed people are. If folks knew about everything they could see in a telescope I'm sure many more people would be amateur astronomers. The public as a whole just doesn't look up much anymore. Instead they are glued to their phones or watching HD TV. And light pollution is pretty bad in most spots where folks live, so going and and seeing a couple of stars up there (or planets) is not enough to whet the apetite.

You got that right about people not looking up anymore. I remember this one time a blimp that was made to resemble a Minion from the DESPICABLE ME series flew over here when I was outside. There were lots of other people around and no one but me noticed it.

[bladekeeper]

Yeesh.

I was asked about Saturn a few times at work today. "Did you see Saturn last night?" "How was Saturn?" "Were you excited about Saturn last night?"

"No. I was too tired. I worked 16 hours. How about you? Did you look at it? How was it for you?" Nope. No scope, no ambition, no real enthusiasm. Just catering to the odd duck in the office.

I was setting up one evening when some neighbors were strolling by on an evening walk. A husband and wife. They inquired about what I was doing, etc. As they were leaving, the husband says "Let me know if something cool happens. I'll come take a look."

You betcha, Scooter. Something cool is ALWAYS happening.

I've invited several. Not many takers, though. Guess I should leave the hockey mask inside.

[Arsene37]

Hello !
Seems to make no difference between million and billion ! One zero is nothing, so three are … trois fois rien !
This year, it's Saturn's turn (listen the alliteration !), last few years, it was Mars seen as big as the Moon ! "The Times They Are A-changin'' as said by a recent Nobel winner !
Have a good look to Saturn !
Arsène

[mcolbert]

Evil:
Oh Caitlin, dear Caitlin, you are so mercifully free of the ravages of intelligence.

Time Bandits 1981

The whole thing is saddening, especially for those who have spent a fair part of their lives in the pursuit of educating others.

[KingClinton]

More of the same!

Recieved this from a relative today, seems it's doing the rounds on Facebook and other social media.

This image,

PhotoPictureResizer_190729_184140196-350x321.jpg (27.03 KiB) Viewed 3825 times

Along with this text,

[quote]This morning ... on the border between the United States and Canada, the sun rises like this, it looks like there are 2 suns, but one is the sun, the other is the moon. This phenomenon is known as 'Cazadores Luna' (Moon Hunters) and occurs when the Earth changes its shaft. The sun and the moon appear together, and the moon reflects the sun's intensity so high that it looks like the second sun. Share, and admire the beauty of the Creator !!/quote]

[bladekeeper]

The Earth changes its shaft?

Well that explains why the sky has been so poor the past year! I keep getting the shaft!

If somebody on FB sends that one to me I am going to come unglued.

[helicon]

Well that's interesting. I certainly have been getting the shaft by the cloud gods recently.

[KingNothing13]

What does "Changes its Shaft" even mean?

And why only the border of US and Canada?

And where on that border? It is a VERY long border.

And do people actually fall for this nonsense?

[bladekeeper]

What does "Changes its Shaft" even mean?

And why only the border of US and Canada?

And where on that border? It is a VERY long border.

And do people actually fall for this nonsense?

Yes, they most certainly do fall for it. I have a few FB friends and relatives that send me that stuff all the time thinking I will find it highly interesting since it considerably awed them.

And at work, being the resident astronomer, I get approached about these sorts of things frequently.

I’ve developed a decent “Incredulous Bob Newhart” voice to respond with.

[KingNothing13]

What does "Changes its Shaft" even mean?

And why only the border of US and Canada?

And where on that border? It is a VERY long border.

And do people actually fall for this nonsense?

Yes, they most certainly do fall for it. I have a few FB friends and relatives that send me that stuff all the time thinking I will find it highly interesting since it considerably awed them.

And at work, being the resident astronomer, I get approached about these sorts of things frequently.

I’ve developed a decent “Incredulous Bob Newhart” voice to respond with.

:flame: :Angry Orc:

[bobharmony]

More of the same!

Recieved this from a relative today, seems it's doing the rounds on Facebook and other social media.

This image,


PhotoPictureResizer_190729_184140196-350x321.jpg


Along with this text,

This morning ... on the border between the United States and Canada, the sun rises like this, it looks like there are 2 suns, but one is the sun, the other is the moon. This phenomenon is known as 'Cazadores Luna' (Moon Hunters) and occurs when the Earth changes its shaft. The sun and the moon appear together, and the moon reflects the sun's intensity so high that it looks like the second sun. Share, and admire the beauty of the Creator !!/quote]

For a moment I thought you had transported to Tatooine for a photo op, Clinton.

I've seen similar images showing the full Moon next to the setting Sun making the rounds on FB. It is such fun explaining to folks that while Photoshopping can create some interesting images, they shouldn't go out and look for this particular alignment

Bob