Presentation Information
[O13-04]Stary Sky: The sky we think we know
*Jerome Leca1 (1. RSA Cosmos (France))
Keywords:
Starry Sky,Stars distances,Uncertainties
The starry sky is a basic of every planetarium show. Each session invariably begins by displaying the celestial vault under the dome. Yet one might be surprised to see how different the sky would look if we only kept stars with scientifically reliable parameters.
Indeed, the catalogues used to position stars come with measurement uncertainties. Although uncertainty is a fundamental concept in astrophysics, it is often left unspoken in planetarium presentations.
In this talk, using the example of stellar distances, we aim to highlight the biases this can introduce and that may persist when presenting the sky to the general public. We will revisit the standard techniques for calculating distances from parallaxes and examine how these affect our representations of the night sky.
This will also be an opportunity to discuss the role of the scientific method in science communication.
Indeed, the catalogues used to position stars come with measurement uncertainties. Although uncertainty is a fundamental concept in astrophysics, it is often left unspoken in planetarium presentations.
In this talk, using the example of stellar distances, we aim to highlight the biases this can introduce and that may persist when presenting the sky to the general public. We will revisit the standard techniques for calculating distances from parallaxes and examine how these affect our representations of the night sky.
This will also be an opportunity to discuss the role of the scientific method in science communication.