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

256 BEAM ME UP
That would mean a star is between the the Moon and the Earth.
Better grab your suntan lotion!
PPP
Our fictionalized movie scene has some dreadful astronomy in it,
and we haven’t even touched on black holes, star birth, and what
nebulae really look like. But what movies have good astronomy?
Any astronomer will instantly reply: 2001: A Space Odyssey. In
that movie, for example, the spaceship moves silently through
space (a fact they evidently forgot when making the sequel 2010:
the Year We Make Contact). There are countless other examples.
An astronomer once told me that the only mistake in the movie is
when one of the characters, on his way to the Moon on the PanAm
shuttle, takes a drink from his meal and you can see the liquid in
his straw go back down after he finishes sipping. Since there is no
gravity on the shuttle, the liquid would stay drawn up in the straw.
This is nit-picking at an almost unbelievable level, and I think we
can forgive the director.
Surprisingly, the TV show The Simpsons commonly has correct
astronomy. There is an episode in which a comet threatens to collide
with the Earth. The comet is shown being discovered by an
amateur (our antihero, Bart). Most comets are indeed discovered
by amateurs and not professionals. Bart then calls the observatory
to confirm it, which is also the correct procedure (he even gives
coordinates using the correct jargon). When it enters the Earth’s
atmosphere, the comet is disintegrated by all the smog in the air of
the Simpsons’ overdeveloped city. That part can be chalked up to
comedic license, but then comes an extraordinary scene: The part
of the comet that gets through the pollution is only about the size
of “a Chihuahua’s head,” and when it hits the ground, Bart simply
picks it up and puts it in his pocket. As we saw in chapter 15, contrary
to common belief, most of the time a small meteorite will not
be burning hot when it hits the ground. The rock (or metal) is initially
moving very rapidly through the upper atmosphere, which
will melt the outer layers, but friction very quickly slows the rock
down. The melted parts get blown off and the remaining chunk
will only be warm to the touch after impact. In this episode of The