Astronomy references

The Burt Lancaster character (Happer) wants Mac to look for Virgo when he gets to Scotland. He says it will be easy to see well that time of year.

Now that may be a subtle way of saying "look for women" or "look for something different in your life" as Virgo is the virgin. But astronomically it makes no sense.

I'm an amateur astronomer, and as soon as I heard that, I thought, "huh? in Scotland?" Virgo is one of the 12 Zodiac constellations, but it is one that lies below the celestial equator. Without going into a lot of detail, that means it is rather far south, and not easily seen ever in Scotland. Scotland is much farther north than any part of the US except Alaska. (The villages in the movie are about latitude 57). Going to Scotland to see Virgo well is like going to Alaska to get a good look at a palm tree.

It's much easier to see Virgo well from Houston, at latitude 29.

Secondly, later in the movie there is talk of establishing a research observatory there in the Scottish village. Happer, the supposed astronomy expert, is eager to observe from there. That is complete B.S. (and no, I don't mean bachelor of science). Far northern locales, like Alaska or Scotland, are very bad for astronomy, amateur or pro. Being far from the equator, most of the sky is forever very low near the horizon, or out of view completely. Secondly, the aurora borealis, lovely as it is, is a horrible form of light pollution for serious amateur astronomy. bad, bad.

So while I'm glad that astronomy was used by the writers as a metaphor for something profound in nature, it was disappointing to see them botch it up. Reminds me of all those Hollywood movies that include taped bird songs that are wildly out of place.

- henry