# Did people really not know they were stars? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 24, 2011, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-really-not-know-they-were-stars/593917 "2011-08-24T17:11:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-really-not-know-they-were-stars/593917/21 "2011-08-24T21:10:16Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > That said, I doubt anyone was unaware of what the stars were. If people were making phone calls it was probably about the unusual appearance of the sky and they were asking if this unusual clarity was a problem. “I can see! I can see! Is Jay-sus coming?” ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-really-not-know-they-were-stars/593917/22 "2011-08-24T21:13:09Z")
When I had my LASIK surgery I was shocked to see that stars do, actually, twinkle. My vision had never been good enough to see that before. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-really-not-know-they-were-stars/593917/23 "2011-08-24T22:27:44Z")
> [@drbhoneydew](#): > > I’m impressed that they knew to call the observatory 🙂 Everyone in LA knows about the observatory. It was in “Rebel Without a Cause” after all. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-really-not-know-they-were-stars/593917/24 "2011-08-24T22:34:29Z")
> [@Ronald\_C.Semone](#): > > If we can sometimes see the moon during the day, why can’t we ever see the sun at night? At the risk of being whooshed, it’s because the sun is on the opposite side of the planet. The sun’s position literally defines day and night. If you can see it, it 'aint night. ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-really-not-know-they-were-stars/593917/25 "2011-08-24T22:53:38Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > I’ve read this story somewhere before. From what I remember, the story was that people were calling about the giant white cloud in the sky, asking if it was related to the power outage and if they should be concerned, the cloud in question being the Milky Way. I’ll try to see if I can find it when I get home tonight. This seems plausible to me. If there’s some stuff up in the sky, and it isn’t what you’d expect, I can understand calling an observatory. Not that this particular urban legend is true, but it does make sense to me. For the Milky Way, anyway. Not for random stars. I remember about seven years ago, I was looking up at the night sky, and I say this really bright red prick of light. And i wondered what the hell it was. And then I pointed it out to my roommate, who wondered the same thing. In the end, it took about two hours of ever-increasing frantic searching on the internet to figure out that it was Mars. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-really-not-know-they-were-stars/593917/26 "2011-08-24T23:08:20Z")
> [@Ronald\_C.Semone](#): > > If we can sometimes see the moon during the day, why can’t we ever see the sun at night? Just go to [Norway.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Midnight_sun_buldersanden_norway.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-really-not-know-they-were-stars/593917/27 "2011-08-24T23:14:22Z")
I grew up in the “country” and it is impossible to compare what I can see now (living in a moderate sized city) to what I could see then. I remember as a kid looking up at the stars and feeling very insignificant. It was also entertaining to watch satallites as they orbited the earth. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-really-not-know-they-were-stars/593917/28 "2011-08-24T23:23:45Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > …this story screams urban legend. Agreed…in fact, I seem to recall this exact story floating around shortly after the earthquake happened. Most city folk are savvy enough to know that there are plenty more stars up there, even if they’ve only seen them in astronomy photographs or on the Discovery Channel. > [@njtt](#): > > According to Isaac Asimov, everybody in LA should have gone mad. (But then, who’d notice?) Snerk. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-really-not-know-they-were-stars/593917/29 "2011-08-24T23:29:50Z")
> [@](#): > > Agreed…in fact, I seem to recall this exact story floating around shortly after the earthquake happened. Most city folk are savvy enough to know that there are plenty more stars up there, even if they’ve only seen them in astronomy photographs or on the Discovery Channel. They may not have been aware that the photos were accurate, though. When I was young, I thought that all those pictures of the Northern Lights that showed them as drapey wavy curtains were just a result of time-delay exposures or other camera “enhancement”. I was amazed the first time I saw real Northern Lights in person that actually did look like that (note: It doesn’t _always_ look like that, but it can). All the more so, I imagine, for the vast number of people who don’t pay as much attention to sciency things as I do. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-really-not-know-they-were-stars/593917/30 "2011-08-24T23:43:11Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > Just go to [Norway.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Midnight_sun_buldersanden_norway.jpg) Or Iceland. I was there a few months ago, and after a few days of not seeing night (the sun did set, but only for a little bit at 1:30 in the morning or something, and I was never awake for it), something just goes off in your head as “this is really, really wrong”. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-really-not-know-they-were-stars/593917/31 "2011-08-24T23:59:12Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > I was in the Los Angeles area during the Northridge earthquake. All the lights did _not_ go off. (I dare say some did, but not enough to make a huge difference to the sky.) I live within walking distance of the epicenter of the Northridge quake, and no, all the lights in LA did not go off. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-really-not-know-they-were-stars/593917/32 "2011-08-25T00:11:22Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I was amazed the first time I saw real Northern Lights in person that actually did look like that (note: It doesn’t _always_ look like that, but it can). All the more so, I imagine, for the vast number of people who don’t pay as much attention to sciency things as I do. It’s reasonable to imagine that many citizens of blacked-out Los Angeles may have looked up at the nighttime sky in amazement and thought, “So _that’s_ what the stars really look like!” But to freak out and call 911 – that’s much harder to swallow. Besides, several people here have already stated that the power did _not_ completely go out on that day, so the trope falls flat on its face. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-really-not-know-they-were-stars/593917/33 "2011-08-25T01:16:51Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I vaguely remember having a conversation with someone who didn’t know that the moon is sometimes visible during the day. Or they could be a religious fundamentalist, who believes the Bible is literally true. And that says the moon is in the night. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-really-not-know-they-were-stars/593917/34 "2011-08-25T01:25:12Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Or they could be a religious fundamentalist, who believes the Bible is literally true. And that says the moon is in the night. :dubious: Does it say anywhere in the Bible that the moon is\* only ever\* visible at night? (“Only ever” is important here.) ---
**Author:** ![DHMO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecc23a/32.png) [@DHMO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DHMO)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-really-not-know-they-were-stars/593917/35 "2011-08-25T02:56:43Z")
I had a friend from Florida visiting me here in Colorado. One time, we were coming home late at night and, cresting Berthoud Pass at over 11,200 ft., I stopped the car and got everyone out to look at the sky. I commented, “You’ll never see a night sky like this in Florida!” He replied, “Not unless you go to the Keys.” I said, “I’m not talking about being away from city lights, which we are, but being above over two miles of atmosphere, rather than at the bottom of the ocean of air in Florida!” I have lived in Colorado for eleven years now, and I am still astonished at how clear and close the night sky looks at altitude, compared to how it was when I lived in Florida. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-really-not-know-they-were-stars/593917/36 "2011-08-25T03:37:33Z")
There’s limits to that, though. Apparently, from the top of Mauna Kea, the stars look about the same to the naked eye as they do from a city. It’s not that the view itself is bad, but apparently, human visual sensitivity is one of the first things to go in the low oxygen. I’ve heard astronomers telling of taking a breath from an oxygen bottle, and seeing the heavens suddenly open up before them. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-really-not-know-they-were-stars/593917/37 "2011-08-25T05:34:32Z")
What about during the big blackout in the northeast a few years ago? Did anyone call 9-1-1 or the Museum of Natural History to report the stars during that? (There’s no observatory in the NY area, so AMNH is probably the closest equivalent.) You’d think if this were an urbal legend, the story would be told about every significant blackout. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-really-not-know-they-were-stars/593917/38 "2011-08-25T05:39:26Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > :dubious: Does it say anywhere in the Bible that the moon is\* only ever\* visible at night? (“Only ever” is important here.) Genesis 1:16 says _“And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night”_. But I’m thinking you’d have to be a pretty extreme fundamentalist to deny the obvious sight of the moon in the daytime. So I’m guessing even most fundamentalists put that verse into the metaphor category. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-really-not-know-they-were-stars/593917/39 "2011-08-25T06:37:38Z")
**"Did people really not know they were stars?"** Man, what is up with all these photographers? I think they’re Italian or something–they’re called “paparazzi”–these guys are _everywhere_. Very annoying–I guess it’s just one of those annoyances of modern life everyone has to put up with these days, right guys? Some Internet thing the kids are all doing. On a brighter note, someone wants to give me some award or something. I think it must be those hot dog people–you know “Oscar Mayer wieners”–on account of the name. Not sure what _that’s_ about, but it’s a pretty cool gold statuette. Well, I’m off to go make another movie. Hey, it’s a living, you know? ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-really-not-know-they-were-stars/593917/40 "2011-08-25T07:11:40Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > **“Did people really not know they were stars?”** > > Man, what is up with all these photographers? Heh… this is exactly how I interpreted the thread title before I clicked through. I was coming here to post references to some biographies of Stalin which claim, rather surprisingly, that he was largely unaware of his cult of personality. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-really-not-know-they-were-stars/593917.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-really-not-know-they-were-stars/593917.md?page=3)