A web comic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.
Panel One: Drawing of a stick figure standing on a raised dais and using a pointer to indicate a diagram on a white board.
Person One: “The occulting observatory consists of two parts–the telescope and the discs.”
Panel Two: Close up of diagram. On the left is a sketch labeled “Telescope.” Several wavy lines are stacked up, running from the right side of the white board to the telescope on the left. The wavy lines are labeled “Light from Star.” In the center, blocking about a third of the rays from reaching the telescope, is a heavy vertical bar labeled “Disc.”
Person One: (off panel) “When the telescope sees a star, a disc is carefully steered to block its light. The procedure is repeated until all stars are covered.”
Panel Three: The stick figure is standing at the edge of the dais, answering questions from the audience.
Audience Member: (off panel) “Wait, all? Why?”
Person One: “I’ll feel better.”
Panel Four: Close up of stick figure.
Audience Member: (off panel) “I thought the point was to image extrasolar planets.”
Person One: “The point is that there are too many stars.–It’s been freaking me out.”
Audience Member: (off panel) “What?”
Another Audience Member: (off panel) “He has a point.”
Hover text: Type II Kardashev civilizations eventually completely enclose their planetary system in a Dyson sphere because space is way too big to look at all the time.
Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).
Comic by xkcd.com. Described by BlindGadget under the Creative Commons license.
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