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View Full Version : Questionable astronomy in the Simpsons

Ravi Pinjala
22-November-2001, 04:20 PM
Did anyone else see the Simpsons last night? What happened was, there was a comet that Bart discovered. Then it was suddenly on a collision course with springfield. There are a few things wrong, such as the comets tail(or lack thereof), and the size of the comet; it was supposedly moving at "tremendous velocity", but it stayed the same size through most of the show. Oh, yeah, it broke up and all that was left was a rock "the size of a chihuahua's head". I probably missed a lot of stuff. Oh, right and the "three wise men" constellation. /phpBB/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif
Mr. X
22-November-2001, 05:33 PM
Um, it's called humor... /phpBB/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif

Kinda like this:
"What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is."
Dan Quayle

Only that was serious, kind of makes you want to cry, doesn't it? /phpBB/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif
Ravi Pinjala
22-November-2001, 06:41 PM
I know, I know. Just thought it should be mentioned.
jkmccrann
21-October-2005, 02:50 PM
Yeah, i always thought the Simpsons could substitute as a good science class, but seeing that comet show, yeah, i realised i was horribly mistaken
Ken G
22-October-2005, 03:53 AM
It gets me thinking, most people talk about an asteroid hitting Earth, but it would be a lot more dramatic if it were a comet. The few nights before it arrived you might see a comet tail that filled a large part of the sky. Can you imagine how awesome/scary that would look? And if it missed, but we passed through the tail, imagine the meteor showers!
crosscountry
22-October-2005, 02:31 PM
It gets me thinking, most people talk about an asteroid hitting Earth, but it would be a lot more dramatic if it were a comet. The few nights before it arrived you might see a comet tail that filled a large part of the sky. Can you imagine how awesome/scary that would look? And if it missed, but we passed through the tail, imagine the meteor showers!


sounds dangerous.

but pretty
cyswxman
22-October-2005, 03:12 PM
I don't think passing through the tail would be dangerous to the Earthbound. I would think the material in the tail would be too small to impact the surface. Out on the ISS (or other manned station), however...
Eroica
22-October-2005, 03:23 PM
I don't think passing through the tail would be dangerous to the Earthbound. I would think the material in the tail would be too small to impact the surface. Out on the ISS (or other manned station), however... Didn't the Earth pass through the tail of Halley's Comet in 1910?

18 May 1910 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1910#May-July)