this post was submitted on 25 Jan 2025
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Cosmic Horror
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A community to discuss Cosmic Horror in it's many forms; books, films, comics, art, TV, music, RPGs, video games etc.
"cosmic horror... is a subgenre of horror fiction and weird fiction that emphasizes the horror of the unknowable and incomprehensible more than gore or other elements of shock... themes of cosmic dread, forbidden and dangerous knowledge, madness, non-human influences on humanity, religion and superstition, fate and inevitability, and the risks associated with scientific discoveries... the sense that ordinary life is a thin shell over a reality that is so alien and abstract in comparison that merely contemplating it would damage the sanity of the ordinary person, insignificance and powerlessness at the cosmic scale..."
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Too bad the stars actually move (or more actually the earth rotates) so you need to constantly adjust the telescope
I think the horror would suggest they aren't stars at all, and the unmoved telescope plays into that
Could have been air whistling through furnace ducts. I've heard sounds like that which were only audible from one exact point in a room.
It's a fake story
🤫 Shhh! Don't spoil the fun.
That's what I'm saying, let it be unrealistic (I discuss this more.in another comment)
I know, it's in cosmic horror, but it's like figuring out an explanation for technobabble on Star Trek.
Yeah but we are on a cosmic horror comm.
So it's much more reasonable in this context to playfully brainstorm some eldritch mechanism by which the telescope is peering beyond the veil, and the "screaming stars" are not classical celestial objects in any way.
Or I guess just vent noise, that's great cosmic horror 🙄
I mean, if it has anything to do with what the telescope sees then it still would change by the next night unless whatever it is moved in accordance.
Whenever I drag out my 8 inch dobsonian and have people look at the moon (they don’t care for the nebulae or andromeda, not very exciting unless you are already into those things), the one thing that always surprises them is just how often you need to move the telescope to stay in sight.
Having people watch the moon zip through the view is easily my favorite thing about sky watching.
True dat. Motor drives are awesome.
This reminds me of one time at a camp on Maui when I looked up and saw a bright star near the half moon. We had been to this place multiple times so I knew the sky fairly wall and knew it wasn't a star - had to be either Jupiter or Saturn, and it looked like the moon was getting closer. So I got out the little telescope I had brought along and sure enough, it was Saturn! After a while I watched the moon cover it and later it came out the other side. The people I was there with were fascinated. I kept having to jog the scope a little to keep it in view while we looked at it. I know these things are predicted way in advance but I hadn't been aware of it - just happened to look up. It was one of my more memorable stargazing experiences.