nora54•1mo ago

PSA: Stop calling every bright speck in a photo a 'planet'

I was scrolling through the Andromeda thread last night and saw someone call a foreground star 'Jupiter' because it was bright. It's not Jupiter, it's a star that's like 500 light years away. How do I know? I used free software called Stellarium to match the field of view from OP's shot. You can do it too in about 10 minutes. Why does it matter? Because if you're trying to learn the sky, getting basic labels wrong just confuses everyone else. Has anyone else noticed people mixing up satellites and stars in widefield shots?

2 comments

2 Comments

brookep271mo ago

Okay, did anyone else catch that episode of StarTalk where they talked about how many people think Starlink trains are UFOs? It’s kind of the same problem. I get that a bright dot in a photo might look like a planet, but taking two minutes to check a sky map app is way easier than spreading bad info. It muddies the water for everyone trying to learn, especially when you’re new and already overwhelmed by how much there is to see. Plus, calling a random satellite a planet just makes it harder to spot the actual cool stuff like Jupiter’s moons when they pop up.

jade2261mo ago

I was at a star party once where this guy kept insisting he'd found a new nebula with his cheap telescope, turns out it was just a smudge on the lens that he'd been cleaning for like an hour. People get so attached to their first guess they'd rather fight for it than just look up a sky map for 30 seconds. It's funny how much easier it is to be wrong with confidence than right with a little patience, especially when you're just starting out and everything looks like magic.