# Glaring astronomy mistakes in a movie or video **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [September 5, 2026, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glaring-astronomy-mistakes-in-a-movie-or-video/1032849 "2026-09-05T20:39:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2026, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glaring-astronomy-mistakes-in-a-movie-or-video/1032849/141 "2026-09-09T01:34:44Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I remember Neil deGrasse Tyson saying that, in the movie Titanic, the stars in one of the shots were in the wrong place Yet he had no trouble with humans in 32 degree water having meaningful conversations? Or living? Not that I’ve even experienced it, but jumping into 32 degree water is such a shock you can’t move, you can’t even think. Maybe after a while you get used to it? I hear you can get used to anything. In the Cruel Sea, a much better book than Titanic is a movie\*, one of the officers hangs onto the lifeboat for hours in the winter North Atlantic. IOW, I didn’t notice the stars at all. I was mad a Rose for not getting Jack on the panel! \*and I like Titanic. To a point. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2026, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glaring-astronomy-mistakes-in-a-movie-or-video/1032849/142 "2026-09-09T03:01:19Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > Tyson also pointed out that the globe in the opening credits of _The Daily Show_ rotated in the wrong direction. I think they fixed it a few years later. That always bugged me too, but I didn’t think anyone would listen to me if I said anything. In fact, I’ve never noticed that the globe now spins in the correct direction. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2026, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glaring-astronomy-mistakes-in-a-movie-or-video/1032849/143 "2026-09-09T04:09:50Z")
[How Cold Was the Water When the Titanic Sank? | Temperature, Freezing, Hypothermia, & Facts | Britannica](https://www.britannica.com/science/How-Cold-Was-the-Water-When-the-Titanic-Sank) ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2026, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glaring-astronomy-mistakes-in-a-movie-or-video/1032849/144 "2026-09-09T04:27:05Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > [How Cold Was the Water When the Titanic Sank? | Temperature, Freezing, Hypothermia, & Facts | Britannica](https://www.britannica.com/science/How-Cold-Was-the-Water-When-the-Titanic-Sank) What a poorly written Britannica article. > [@Encyclopedia Britannica](#): > > “…The water temperature was approximately 28 ℉ (−2 ℃), which is below the [freezing point](https://www.britannica.com/science/freezing-point) of water.” And what a nonsensical statement, considering the context. If the water temperature was really below the freezing point, people could have walked around on the surface of the ice. Instead, 28 ℉ is below the freezing point of _fresh_ water. The North Atlantic, however, is not fresh water; it is salt water, of course, with a salt concentration of around 35 to 37.9 parts per thousand (3.5% to 3.79% salt by mass). And the freezing point of seawater in the North Atlantic is—drumroll please—about 28 ℉. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2026, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glaring-astronomy-mistakes-in-a-movie-or-video/1032849/145 "2026-09-09T04:35:54Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > In some episodes they go to warp from a “standstill”. I always loved “We-we’re stopped dead in space.” What does that even mean? > [@robby](#): > > And the freezing point of seawater in the North Atlantic is—drumroll please—about 28 ℉. I read somewhere that 0ºF was based on something like the freezing point of snot – which makes sense, because that is when the stuff in your nose starts to crystalize. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2026, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glaring-astronomy-mistakes-in-a-movie-or-video/1032849/146 "2026-09-09T05:06:40Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > I read somewhere that 0ºF was based on something like the freezing point of snot That may be when snot freezes, but the original definition was the freezing point of water saturated with salt. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2026, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glaring-astronomy-mistakes-in-a-movie-or-video/1032849/147 "2026-09-09T06:52:21Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And I also don’t understand why a dome would be painted with a mirrored sky. For a globe to be viewed from the outside, there’s at least an argument to be made either way, but for a dome viewed from inside, there’s just plain a right way and a wrong way. As for the dome in Grand Central Terminal, [this website](https://news.artnet.com/art-world/3-things-grand-central-terminal-zodiac-ceiling-2351122?amp=1) cites contemporary speculation from when the station was opened as to why the constellations are inverted into their mirror image. Possibly it occurred because the stars were laid out correctly on the floor and then projected upwards onto the dome to paint it. (But apparently, Orion, of all constellations, isn’t inverted.) ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2026, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glaring-astronomy-mistakes-in-a-movie-or-video/1032849/148 "2026-09-09T08:19:57Z")
A sailor once told me that if you fall into freezing Atlantic waters, you will succumb to hypothermia within minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2026, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glaring-astronomy-mistakes-in-a-movie-or-video/1032849/149 "2026-09-09T11:42:49Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Yet he had no trouble with humans in 32 degree water having meaningful conversations? I have no idea whether or not he had a problem with that, he didn’t comment on it. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2026, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glaring-astronomy-mistakes-in-a-movie-or-video/1032849/150 "2026-09-09T12:00:20Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > I always loved “We-we’re stopped dead in space.” What does that even mean? The stars move around the center of the galaxy at something like 500K mph, relative. But, if your ship were moving also that fast, your speed would be useless. You’re never going to get anywhere. Even if you are moving at 100K mph relative to this existing movement, as far as your mission cares, you’re dead in space. Random movement might take you to a starbase or a inhabitable planet…in 60K years. More or less. Consider the phrase “dead in space” as a shorthand for “we’re not going home without help”. So despite a large (to us landlubbers) relative speed, you are going, as Scotty might say, “nowhere mighty fast.” ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2026, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glaring-astronomy-mistakes-in-a-movie-or-video/1032849/151 "2026-09-09T12:31:00Z")
Someone upthread mentioned a song. I have another one; it has grated on me for decades. The song _Right Down the Line_ by Gerry Rafferty contains the following terrible line: “You’ve been as constant as the Northern Star - the brightest star that shines.” I do not need to tell this group that the North Start (not the Northern Star 🙄 ) is nowhere close to the “brightest star that shines”. The North Star is around magnitude 1.98, dim to middling. The brightest star in the northern hemisphere is Sirius with a magnitude around - 1.46. It’s not even close. Did Rafferty never wander outside at night and look up??? ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2026, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glaring-astronomy-mistakes-in-a-movie-or-video/1032849/152 "2026-09-09T13:20:19Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Even going from earth to the moon is a days long trip but they make it seem a matter of minutes or even seconds. As seen in Futurama’s second episode: > “Ten..nine…” “OK, we’re here!” ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2026, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glaring-astronomy-mistakes-in-a-movie-or-video/1032849/153 "2026-09-09T13:47:26Z")
They constantly portray the crescent moon in the evening with the horns facing to the right; only correct if you’re in the southern hemisphere. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2026, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glaring-astronomy-mistakes-in-a-movie-or-video/1032849/154 "2026-09-09T13:52:27Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > I always loved “We-we’re stopped dead in space.” What does that even mean? If it’s a _Star Trek_-style inertialess drive, the ship would presumably cease its previous motion when the drive is offline. This actually makes a certain sense: imparting any significant velocity by accelerating a ship requires stupendous amounts of energy; a drive that worked by temporarily turning off a ship’s inertia would bypass this. ETA: > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > And why are the chronometers going backwards if no one else is? Dum dum! Perhaps the chronometers were displaying the external time by some measure? ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2026, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glaring-astronomy-mistakes-in-a-movie-or-video/1032849/155 "2026-09-09T13:54:01Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > IOW, I didn’t notice the stars at all. Same here. These complaints about this and other movies (“the stars would NOT have been configured that way!”) are about as pedantic and “non-glaring” as a discrepancy can get. For me, at least. ---
**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:** [September 9, 2026, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glaring-astronomy-mistakes-in-a-movie-or-video/1032849/156 "2026-09-09T21:16:32Z")
> [@Toxgoddess](#): > > The brightest star in the northern hemisphere is Sirius with a magnitude around - 1.46. Nope, that’s southern hemisphere. As are the second and third brightest (Canopus and alpha Centauri). You have to get to Arcturus, the fourth-brightest, before you get a star in the northern hemisphere. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2026, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glaring-astronomy-mistakes-in-a-movie-or-video/1032849/157 "2026-09-09T21:38:02Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > > [@eschereal](#): > > > > I always loved “We-we’re stopped dead in space.” What does that even mean? > > If it’s a _Star Trek_-style inertialess drive, the ship would presumably cease its previous motion when the drive is offline. This actually makes a certain sense: imparting any significant velocity by accelerating a ship requires stupendous amounts of energy; a drive that worked by temporarily turning off a ship’s inertia would bypass this. The question is - with respect to what. If you are ‘stopped dead in space’ with respect to Sirius, you are moving at **16.7 km/s** with respect to the Sun, and if you are stationary with respect to the Sun, you are moving at **370 km/s** with respect to the Cosmic Microwave Background. Which is the ‘stopped dead in space’ reference frame? ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2026, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glaring-astronomy-mistakes-in-a-movie-or-video/1032849/158 "2026-09-09T21:38:47Z")
? Sirius is visible in the northern hemisphere. Its intrinsic luminosity may be less than other stars but it appears extremely bright to the naked eye observer. Either way, the song is still glaringly wrong. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2026, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glaring-astronomy-mistakes-in-a-movie-or-video/1032849/159 "2026-09-09T21:43:31Z")
> [@Toxgoddess](#): > > Sirius is visible in the northern hemisphere. Its intrinsic luminosity may be less than other stars but it appears extremely bright to the naked eye observer. I think Chronos means the Northern Celestial hemisphere, the part of the sky above the celestial equator. Sirius is below that line (which is actually a Great Circle, of course). Arcturus is definitely dimmer than Sirius (as seen from Earth) but it is the brifghtest star in the Northern Celestial hemisphere. ---
**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:** [September 9, 2026, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glaring-astronomy-mistakes-in-a-movie-or-video/1032849/160 "2026-09-09T21:44:57Z")
> [@Toxgoddess](#): > > ? Sirius is visible in the northern hemisphere. It’s visible in most of the Northern Hemisphere. It’s not very far south, only about 17º, so you’d have to be well north of the Arctic Circle before you couldn’t see it. And every star is visible from somewhere in the Northern Hemisphere: alpha Cen, for instance, is visible from southern Texas. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glaring-astronomy-mistakes-in-a-movie-or-video/1032849.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glaring-astronomy-mistakes-in-a-movie-or-video/1032849.md?page=9)