# Movies with astronomical events (but not space or SciFi movies) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [July 1, 2025, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-astronomical-events-but-not-space-or-scifi-movies/1020324 "2025-07-01T00:12:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2025, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-astronomical-events-but-not-space-or-scifi-movies/1020324/41 "2025-07-03T14:54:38Z")
Spielberg likes to place a shooting star in the sky when some character makes a decision. This happens in **Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom** when he decides to rescue the Sankara stones. There’s one in **Jaws** which people claim is a real one, and some in **Close Encounters of the Third Kind** , and in **The Adventures of Tintin**. It’s al supposed related to Spielberg’s dad taking the kids out to see a meteor shower when they were young > **[Post by @fromdirectorstevenspielberg · 1 image](https://www.tumblr.com/fromdirectorstevenspielberg/51555975375/steven-spielberg-questions-why-does-spielberg-use-shooti)** > > 💬 0  🔁 8  ❤️ 14 · Question: Why does Steven Spielberg use shooting stars in his films? · Answer: As with many elements of his cinematic style, Spielberg uses shooting stars in some of his films bec… ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2025, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-astronomical-events-but-not-space-or-scifi-movies/1020324/42 "2025-07-03T15:04:29Z")
**Last of the Mohicans** includes a stare at the night sky in the Huron graveyard between Natty Bumppo and Cora Munro and the origin myth of the Mohican people. That was an event at some point in the past. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2025, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-astronomical-events-but-not-space-or-scifi-movies/1020324/43 "2025-07-03T15:13:51Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > This is reasonable – the myth appears to have been created to correlate those constellations – Perseus (holding Medusa’s head), Pegasus, Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, and Cetus the Sea Monster. I have heard it claimed that you can tell the story of Perseus, and events in the story will coincide with when the constellations rise above the horizon. I have heard it claimed that if you tell the story over the course of several nights, you can even incorporate the variability of the stars into your narrative. Have you ever tried this? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2025, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-astronomical-events-but-not-space-or-scifi-movies/1020324/44 "2025-07-03T16:56:03Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > Have you ever tried this? Haven’t tried it, but I’ve considered it. And you don’t need to go over “several nights”. The only one of those variable stars with a really short period is Algol (beta Persei), which is an eclipsing variable star. In other words, beta Persei is actually two large stars orbiting a common center (actually , more than two, but there’s no point in complicating things. Most of the light comes from two stars). We on Earth are almost in the plane of this common orbit, so once every 70 hours or so (the orbital period), the brighter star is eclipsed by the dimmer one. Here’s a light curve: > [@](#): > > [Beta Persei (Algol) | aavso](https://www.aavso.org/vsots_betaper) The brightness changes by about two magnitudes in the space of about 6 hours. So you can tell the story at the beginning of the night and see the star “wink out” by the end of the night, if you’re lucky. (Note that there’s a lesser minimum between the two mjor ones, as the brighter star eclipses the dimmer one. Depending upon how you tell the story, this can be Perseus cutting off Medusa’s head, or it can be Perseus stealing the Eye from the three Graea (The “stygian witches” in the recent movie versions). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2025, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-astronomical-events-but-not-space-or-scifi-movies/1020324/45 "2025-07-03T17:18:16Z")
This trick won’t work with the other naked-eye variables in constellations associated with the story. Mira (omicron Ceti) has an 11 month period. Delta Cephei has one of 5.4 days. And nobody can tell you how long the period of gamma Cassiopeia is – it’s an irregular variable. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2025, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-astronomical-events-but-not-space-or-scifi-movies/1020324/46 "2025-07-03T17:36:20Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > **Melancholia** > A visually stunning film where Earth faces annihilation by a rogue planet. Less sci-fi, more existential dread and psychological drama. Not exactly a happy-go-lucky, first-date kinda movie, but a beautifully crafted exploration of depression, denial, and the end of everything. Yes, it’s hard to explain. Did I “like” it? “Enjoy it”? Well, yes and yes. A similar but less serious movie that I wanted to mention (even though it’s outside the OP’s criteria) is _Last Night_ directed by and starring Don McKellar with a host of familiar Canadian actors. Earth about to be destroyed by the sun moving too close to Earth or something. I really love this movie. ---
**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:** [July 4, 2025, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-astronomical-events-but-not-space-or-scifi-movies/1020324/47 "2025-07-04T02:06:57Z")
Another one! We’ve been watching _Back to the Future III_ as the finale of a three-night binge of the series. In BTtF III, Doc fixes the school-marm Clara’s telescope, and after the dance, she points out craters on the moon to him. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2025, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-astronomical-events-but-not-space-or-scifi-movies/1020324/48 "2025-07-04T02:12:39Z")
_ **IQ** _: Albert Einstein tries to play matchmaker for his orphaned niece, which is to say that Walter Matthau keeps setting up romantic-comedy hijinks for Meg Ryan and Tim Robbins. Anyway, another thing that keeps coming up is a comet coming back around. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2025, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-astronomical-events-but-not-space-or-scifi-movies/1020324/49 "2025-07-04T02:20:00Z")
I really liked that movie. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2025, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-astronomical-events-but-not-space-or-scifi-movies/1020324/50 "2025-07-06T16:26:32Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > **Ghostbusters** mentions the Tunguska Blast. This line always grates me because he gets the year wrong. He says 1909 but the blast happened in 1908. As a paranormal expert, I would have thought Dan Aykroyd knew better. ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2025, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-astronomical-events-but-not-space-or-scifi-movies/1020324/51 "2025-07-06T16:53:09Z")
In the 1994 film, _Farinelli_, the title character provides the musical accompaniment for the Spanish court during a solar eclipse. (The scene is invented.) [Farinelli (1994) • Alto Giove - Scene of a solar eclipse • 4K & HQ Sound](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0pRZ4qS7RU) ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2025, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-astronomical-events-but-not-space-or-scifi-movies/1020324/52 "2025-07-06T17:05:37Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > This line always grates me because he gets the year wrong. He says 1909 but the blast happened in 1908. As a paranormal expert, I would have thought Dan Aykroyd knew better. It _started_ in 1909, but the residual tachyon emissions didn’t die down until 1908 ---
**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:** [December 29, 2025, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-astronomical-events-but-not-space-or-scifi-movies/1020324/53 "2025-12-29T23:12:51Z")
_Bugonia_ is available for streaming on Peacock. It includes a reference to an upcoming lunar eclipse, so it fits in this category. But in the end it is a science fiction film (a weird one). I want to mention it here for completeness. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-astronomical-events-but-not-space-or-scifi-movies/1020324.md?page=2)