Bad Astronomy: Misconceptions and Misuses Revealed, from ...

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PPPPPP
Well, Well: The Difficulty
of Daylight Star Sighting
I
was never a boy scout.
That is probably a good thing. I was a smartass as a kid—
some say that’s still true—and I’m sure I would have had a hard
time of it in the woods with just other boys my age for company.
In high school I learned to be a bit of a practical joker, if only to
exact revenge for some of the pranks pulled on me.
There is one trick traditionally done by Boy Scouts for which
I’m sure I would have fallen. It’s usually done late in the afternoon,
while the Sun is still well up in the sky. It’s best to do it after a
long day in the woods, when everyone is exhausted and perhaps
not thinking clearly. While sitting around resting, the discussion
will turn to the Astronomy Merit Badge. One of the tests for the
badge is constellation identification, so after a few minutes of talking,
one of the boys (an older one) will get up and say, “Well, I
need to practice finding constellations now.”
This will, of course, raise some protest, usually by a tenderfoot.
“But the Sun is still up,” he’ll inevitably say. “You can’t see
stars during the day!”
The older boy then puts on a condescending smile and says,
“Of course I can. I just need to use my tube!” He then makes a
tube out of rolled-up paper. Peering through it up at the sky, he’ll
make some comment like, “Ah, there’s Orion now.” He’ll even
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