History Main / ObliviousAstronomers

-->-- '''''WebVideo/CinemaSins''''', recurring

* PlayedForLaughs and [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] in an episode of ''Series/{{Eureka}}''. Sheriff Carter overhears Fargo talking about [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemesis_(hypothetical_star) Nemesis,]] a star which may intersect Earth's orbital path and wipe out all life on the planet. Carter ''immediately'' goes into damage-control mode, assuming he'll have to do his typical "rally his brilliant friends and come up with a wacky plan to save the day" thing, and asks Fargo how long they have. Fargo replies several thousand years. Carter immediately realizes this is not his problem and ceases to care.

** After the climactic battle over Antarctica in Season 7, a Season 8 episode dealt with the Stargate Program having to scramble to cover up the fact that some astronomers ''did'' notice the fleet of alien spaceships getting blown up.

* ''Film/StarshipTroopers''. The Bugs send a large asteroid to impact the Earth. Even though the Federation has considerably more advanced technology than present-day Earth (including starships), it somehow misses seeing the asteroid approaching. This leads to Earth (later in the story but earlier in the narrative) upgrading its defenses to stop other incoming "Bug Meteors".

* As explained in the introduction above just the millions of amateur astronomers worlwide, often with gear a professional observatory would envy, and Internet are the main reasons why the claims of some conspiracy theorists about "NASA hiding that Planet X[[note]]Nope, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_Nine Planet IX]] has nothing to see with those claims and is an entirely theoretical object for now[[/note]]/Nibiru/whatever is approaching Earth" cannot be taken seriously. While NASA could have detected said planet when it still was far away and hide that fact, somehow with no leaks, sooner or later amateur astronomers would have spotted that object as it approached and reported its presence.[[note]]Not to mention other space agencies as well as professional observatories unrelated to the latter. It's ''impossible'', after all, to hide the existence of something that will destroy Earth when everyone can spot it if they know where to look.[[/note]]

* ''Film/{{Armageddon}}'': The person who first notices the Texas-sized asteroid that is going to hit Earth is an amateur astronomer, and the fact that NASA (or any other space agency on the planet, for that matter) didn't detect said asteroid ''at all'' until then (when the asteroid is about two weeks away from hitting Earth) and that there are no other actual plans that may work (other than than the one that ''is'' CrazyEnoughToWork) because it is so close is lampshaded to the point of {{Anvilicious}}ness.

* As explained in the introduction above just the millions of amateur astronomers worlwide, often with gear a professional observatory would envy, and Internet are the main reasons why the claims of some conspiracy theorists about "NASA hiding that Planet X[[note]]Nope, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_Nine Planet IX]] has nothing to see with those claims and is an entirely theoretical object for now[[/note]]/Nibiru/whatever is approaching Earth" cannot be taken seriously. While NASA could have detected said planet when it still was far away and hide that fact, somehow with no leaks, sooner or later amateur astronomers would have spotted that object as it approached and reported its presence.[[note]]Not to mention other space agencies as well as professional observatories unrelated to the latter. It's ''impossible'', after all, to hide the existence of something that will destroy Earth when everyone can spot it if knows where to look.[[/note]]

** After the climactic battle over Antarctica in the seventh season, a season 8 episode dealt with the Stargate Program having to scramble to cover up the fact that some astronomers ''did'' notice the fleet of alien spaceships getting blown up.
* PlayedForLaughs and [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] in an episode of ''Series/{{Eureka}}''. Sheriff Carter overhears Fargo talking about [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemesis_(hypothetical_star) Nemesis]], a star which may intersect Earth's orbital path and wipe out all life on the planet. Carter ''immediately'' goes into damage-control mode, assuming he'll have to do his typical "rally his brilliant friends and come up with a wacky plan to save the day" thing, and asks Fargo how long they have. Fargo replies several thousand years. Carter immediately realizes this is not his problem and ceases to care.

* ''VideoGame/DawnOfWarII'': Subverted: the Tyranid fleet goes undetected until it's already on several Aurelian planets because the Eldar are interfering with the astronomic data ([[spoiler:in the hopes that the Tyranids wouldn't go after a downed craftworld on the planet's surface]]). When the Blood Ravens send the real data, the planetary administrator finally suffers an intense BreakTheHaughty moment (and the Tyranid swarm appears on the loading screen).

* As explained in the introduction above just the millions of amateur astronomers worlwide, often with gear a professional observatory would envy, and Internet are the main reasons why the claims of some conspiracy theorists about "NASA hiding that Planet X[[note]]Nope, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_Nine Planet IX]] has nothing to see with those claims and is an entirely theoretical object for now[[/note]]/Nibiru/whatever is approaching Earth" cannot be taken seriously. While NASA could have detected said planet when it still was far away and hide that fact, somehow with no leaks, sooner or later amateur astronomers would have spotted that object as it approached and reported its presence[[note]]Not to mention other space agencies as well as professional observatories unrelated to the latter. It's ''impossible'', after all, to hide the existence of something that will destroy Earth when everyone can spot it if knows where to look[[/note]].

* As noted in the page quotes, this is one of many tropes WebVideo/CinemaSins points out. Repeatedly.

* Comet! by Laurence E. Dahners, Hearth-Daster Comet itself is not hidden (it become visible by unassisted eyes shortly after being discovered), NASA instead insists that naming it Earth-Disaster is very bad humor and it will miss Earth by at least 100,000 miles. [[spoiler:They lied on direct orders of the president to prevent global panic, while trying to delivery nuclear devices to correct its trajectory. Situations becomes much more interesting when the trajectory begins changing 'by itself'.]]

* Probably one of the more realistic versions in the third book of ''Literature/TheEnchantmentEmporium''. There are two objects very close to each other in the sky from their point of view so while they ''do'' notice the first one it's going to be a standard near miss (in cosmic terms) but it kept them from noticing the one behind it on a collision course until it's too late.

* ''Film/IndependenceDayResurgence'': Given a justification in this film (and perhaps retroactively for the first) in that the massive mothership is shown to have some kind of cloaking device.

** Justified in ''Film/IndependenceDayResurgence'', as the ''massive'' (3,000 mile wide!) mothership is shown to have a cloaking device of some kind. Likely the mothership in the previous film had one, as well. Though in 1996 that wouldn't even have been needed. To even conduct interstellar invasions, let alone be aware of the first invasion's failure and be able to launch a second on in 2016, the aliens obviously have some degree of FTL capability. Any electromagnetic sensors (be they visual, infrared or radar) are all based around light, and thus can't detect anything that's faster than light. Until the mothership dropped to sublight speeds, it would've been outrunning its own infrared emissions and any light or radar beams that reflected off its hull.

* ''Film/StarshipTroopers''. The Bugs send a large asteroid to impact the Earth. Even though the Federation has considerably more advanced technology than present-day Earth (including starships), it somehow misses seeing the asteroid approaching. This leads to Earth (later in the story but earlier in the narrative) upgrading its defenses to stop other incoming "Bug Meteors," and lends to the fan-theory that the war with the Bugs was engineered by the Federation in the first place.

* In the pilot episode of ''WesternAnimation/DragonTales'', the "star seed" that Ord picks turns into an actual star in the sky, and Max and Emmy are able to see it from their playroom, despite Dragon Land being in another universe. How no astronomers noticed a large, bright star appearing suddenly is a riddle for the ages.

* Comet! by Laurence E. Dahners, Hearth-Daster Comet itself is not hidden (it become visible by unassisted eyes shortly after being discovered), NASA instead insists that naming it Earth-Disaster is very bad humor and it will miss Earth by at least 100 000 miles [[spoiler:They lied on direct orders of president to prevent global panic while trying to delivery nuclear devices to correct it's trajectory. Situations becomes much more interesting when trajectory begins changing 'by itself' ]].

Can be a JustifiedTrope, if the object in question has [[HandWave some kind of stealth technology]], or at times on Earth (or other alien worlds) where astronomy was functionally nonexistent. Can also be justified depending on how FasterThanLightTravel works in the setting: if FTL is accurate enough to drop a ship or fleet into an orbit around their target, and there's no way to detect ships in FTL, then the ship can literally appear over its target with no warning.[[note]]For example, at Earth's ''current'' level of technology, we'd have no way to detect a spaceship approaching at FTL speeds, even if it were [[ThatsNoMoon planet-sized or larger]] and hotter than the sun, because it would be outrunning its own light and heat emissions+.[[/note]] This may even make {{space nav|y}}ies unnecessary altogether, as one can just strap FTL drives to ''massive'' spaceship-sized bombs and have yourself a nice [[InterstellarWeapon interstellar ICBM]]. This is one of many reasons aspiring Sci-Fi writers are encouraged to think long and hard about the rules of their FTL drives.

Can be a JustifiedTrope, if the object in question has [[HandWave some kind of stealth technology]], or at times on Earth (or other alien worlds) where astronomy was functionally nonexistent. Can also be justified depending on how FasterThanLightTravel works in the setting: if FTL is accurate enough to drop a ship or fleet into an orbit around their target, and there's no way to detect ships in FTL, then the ship can literally appear over its target with no warning.[[note]]For example, at Earth's ''current'' level of technology, we'd have no way to detect a spaceship approaching at FTL speeds, even if it were [[ThatsNoMoon planet-sized or larger]] and hotter than the sun, because it would be outrunning its own light and heat emissions+.[[/note]] This may even make {{space nav|y}}ies unnecessary altogether, as one can just strap FTL drives to spaceship-sized planet killer bombs and have yourself a nice [[InterstellarWeapon interstellar ICBM]]. This is one of many reasons aspiring Sci-Fi writers are encouraged to think long and hard about the rules of their FTL drives.

Can be a JustifiedTrope, if the object in question has [[HandWave some kind of stealth technology]], or at times on Earth (or other alien worlds) where astronomy was functionally nonexistent. Can also be justified depending on how FasterThanLightTravel works in the setting: if FTL is accurate enough to drop a ship or fleet into an orbit around their target, and there's no way to detect ships in FTL, then the ship can literally appear over its target with no warning (one of many reasons aspiring Sci-Fi writers are encouraged to think long and hard about the rules of their FTL drives).[[note]]For example, at Earth's ''current'' level of technology, we'd have no way to detect a spaceship approaching at FTL speeds, even if it were [[ThatsNoMoon planet-sized or larger]] and hotter than the sun, because it would be outrunning its own light and heat emissions+.[[/note]] Can also be TruthInTelevision (see Real Life, below) for objects small enough that they aren't easily visible, but still big enough to cause lots of damage (not necessarily extinction-level damage, but enough to be worrisome).

** Justified in ''Film/IndependenceDayResurgence'', as the ''massive'' (3,000 mile wide!) mothership is shown to have a cloaking device of some kind. Likely the mothership in the previous film had one, as well.

Can be a JustifiedTrope, if the object in question has [[HandWave some kind of stealth technology]], or at times on Earth (or other alien worlds) where astronomy was functionally nonexistent. Can also be justified depending on how FasterThanLightTravel works in the setting: if FTL is accurate enough to drop a ship or fleet into an orbit around their target, and there's no way to detect ships in FTL, then the ship can literally appear over its target with no warning (one of many reasons aspiring Sci-Fi writers are encouraged to think long and hard about the rules of their FTL drives). Can also be TruthInTelevision (see Real Life, below) for objects small enough that they aren't easily visible, but still big enough to cause lots of damage (not necessarily extinction-level damage, but enough to be worrisome).

[[TropesAreTools But that just doesn't make for a very interesting story.]] If you can see the alien battlefleet when it's six months away, and have six months to prepare an appropriate welcome, a lot of the drama and tension can get sucked out of the story right there. If the Earth-shattering asteroid is spotted before it ever even enters the solar system, there's no need for an ad-hoc plan to send a RagtagBunchOfMisfits up to destroy it, you can make a plan or two, [[CrazyPrepared and three or four contingency plans if those fail.]]

Can be a JustifiedTrope, if the object in question has [[HandWave some kind of stealth technology]], or at times on Earth (or other alien worlds) where astronomy was functionally nonexistent. Can also be justified depending on how FasterThanLightTravel works in the setting: if FTL is accurate enough drop a ship or fleet into orbit around their target, and there's no way to detect ships in FTL, then the ship can literally appear over its target with no warning (one of many reasons aspiring Sci-Fi writers are encouraged to think long and hard about the rules of their FTL drives). Can also be TruthInTelevision (see Real Life, below) for objects small enough that they aren't easily visible, but still big enough to cause lots of damage (not necessarily extinction-level damage, but enough to be worrisome).