History Main / ArtisticLicenseSpace

* Larry Niven's ''Literature/{{Ringworld}}'' and ''Literature/KnownSpace'' mention a supernova chain reaction at the core of the galaxy happening thousands of years ago[[note]]To be fair, before the [[ScienceMarchesOn now commonly accepted and supported by observations]] view of black holes and/or star formation galore powering active galactic nuclei such as quasars, that was once proposed as one explanation for them.[[/note]]

* The ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'' franchise opens on the night of a full Moon, the only point in time the particular MonsterOfTheWeek is claimed to resurrect itself. The bulk of the episode, however, takes place on the next night, where another full Moon allows it to do so again. A blue Moon it ain't.
** The moon will appear "full" for two to three days around the actual instant of fullness. Many werewolf works use this.

* Many writers don’t understand that the phase of the Moon is directly linked to the time of its rising and setting:
** A scene in Olivia Manning’s ''Levant Trilogy'' has the main character watching a moonrise in the late afternoon. It is described as a new Moon.
** In the 1892 novel ''Mona [=McLean=], Medical Student'' (which is essentially ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin), a full Moon is in the sky at the same time as the Sun.

* A minor plot point in one Marcia Muller mystery involves two characters knowing that the next high tide will come 24 hours after the current high tide. In reality they are every 12 hours 25 minutes.

* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'': In the novelization of ''Literature/RevengeOfTheSith'', Anakin recalls a visit to a black dwarf star system: ''a frigid dwarf of hypercompacted trace metals, hovering a quantum fraction of a degree above absolute zero''. Even now there are no such objects yet, since they require hundreds of billions of years to cool, and the Universe isn't old enough; and Anakin lived "a long time ago", that's in a universe even younger than ours.

* In the arcade game ''VideoGame/XaindSleena''[=/=]''Solar Warrior'', Jupiter appears as a desert world complete with ''Literature/{{Dune}}''-like worms, likely as a ShoutOut to ''Space Ghost''.

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->'''Reggie:''' Orbital wobble is one thing, but this... this is outside the laws of celestial mechanics!

* The stars with pointed spikes — usually four, resembling a plus sign; however there are variants of this such as a x-shaped star — so prominent and known from so many space images are actually caused by the vanes that support the secondary mirror of reflecting telescopes, often known along with the holder of that mirror as ''spider''[[note]] most professional telescopes as well as amateur ones above a certain size, and of the largest ones currently in service ''all'' of them — including the Hubble Space Telescope — because it's ''far'' cheaper and easier to build a big mirror than a big lens, are [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflecting_telescope reflecting telescopes]] that use a set of mirrors to work[[/note]] and do not exist in reality, nor when one sees a bright star without optical aid and/or in the space would see it with those spikes [[note]]Watching a bright star with a telescope, at least one of the classical type with lenses (refracting telescope). produces due to the properties of the light a bright disk (that is '''''not''''' the actual disk of the star) surrounded with rings instead of a point-like source; through a reflecting one, however, often one can see the spiky star effect[[/note]]. The effect is known as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffraction_spike diffraction spikes]], and there are photographic/camera filters to simulate it.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman", the International Space Station is retired by being blown up. This would be considered a highly dangerous move, because there is a chance the shrapnel could become space debris and/or destroy nearby satellites or harm civilians. In the episode, the ISS is shown to be blown up right above Southern California, and in a low enough orbit that it can be seen with the naked eye, which would almost certainly be a major issue for the populace. When the ISS does get retired, it will be de-orbited into the Pacific Ocean instead.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman", the International Space Station is retired by being blown up. This would be considered a highly dangerous move, because there is a chance the shrapnel could become space debris and/or destroy nearby satellites or harm civilians. In the episode, the ISS is shown to be blown up right above Southern California, and in a low enough orbit that it can be seen with the naked eye, which would almost certainly be a major issue for the populace. When the ISS does get retired, it will be de-orbited into the Pacific Ocean instead.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'' episode, "Planned Obsolescence", the AlternateHistory mentions the Russian dog Laika was the first woman in space. This is incorrect, as Laika was the first living creature in space, regardless of gender. The purpose of her flight and was meant to test the safety of spaceflight for living beings. Meanwhile, Laika is still alive and well enough to give a podcast with Diane. Unfortunately, the real Laika died hours after the flight, due to overheating. Laika's survival was not expected, as the technology to de-orbit spacecrafts did not exist at the time.

* ''Series/StarTrekPicard'': In attempting to address the [[SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale scale problem]] of ''Film/StarTrek2009'' above, the pilot episode issues a {{retcon}} that the supernova that destroyed Romulus was of the Romulan sun itself, rather than a distant star as the film had implied (and confirmed in the tie-in comic ''ComicBook/StarTrekCountdown''). This introduces the new problem that a star big enough to turn into a Type II supernova would be unlikely to ever have any Earthlike planets around it: larger stars have shorter lifespans and produce more radiation, and the star would expand and incinerate any planets formerly orbiting in its habitable zone millions of years before going nova.

[[quoteright:346:[[http://rmirandinha.deviantart.com/art/DM-Astral-Projection-Collab-128866750 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/planets_stars_asteroids_140_8170.jpg]]]]

* "Alone (it's me)" by ''Abfahrt'' contains the line "Don't like the Moon without you, it's just another '''planet''' that I'd be watching with you. The Moon isn't a planet, it's [[ShapedLikeItself a moon.]]

** This fact plays a role in the Creator/IsaacAsimov novel ''Literature/TheStarsLikeDust''. From the current power center, the Horsehead Nebula looks nothing like a horse's head, so they speculate it's named after the original (mythical) explorer, one Horace Hedd. The Earthmen do still remember the true meaning, as stated by a person who lived there for a while, and even viewed it from there.

** This fact plays a role in the Creator/IsaacAsimov novel ''Literature/TheStarsLikeDust'', where the location of mankind's original solar system is forgotten. From the current power center, the Horsehead Nebula looks nothing like a horse's head, so they speculate it's named after the original (mythical) explorer, one Horace Hedd.

* AsteroidThicket: Asteroid thickets portrayed as much denser and violent than they are in real life.

* ArtisticLicenseAstronomy: Astronomical bodies are portrayed incorrectly.

[[/index]]

Earlier media can get a pass since they were made in a time when [[ScienceMarchesOn there hadn't been much research on the subject yet]]. Modern portrayals of space, however, still haven't changed much from the [[TheAsteroidThicket rock-filled]], [[SpaceIsNoisy noisy]] place where an unprotected human can instantly [[ExplosiveDecompression explode]] into [[SpaceIsCold clouds of ice]]. [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools However]], some of the modern misrepresentations can be put down to the RuleOfCool, [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality artistic license]], or simply the belief that audiences [[TheCoconutEffect wouldn't accept it any other way]].

* EarthShatteringKaboom

* FullMoonSilhouette:

* TotalEclipseOfThePlot:

Subtrope of ArtisticLicensePhysics. Not to be confused with {{Astrolog|er}}y, no matter how open to interpretation the stars may be.

Earlier media can get a pass since they were made in a time when [[ScienceMarchesOn there hadn't been much research on the subject yet]]. Modern portrayals of space, however, still haven't changed much from the [[TheAsteroidThicket rock-filled]], [[SpaceIsNoisy noisy]] place that would an unprotected human instantly [[ExplosiveDecompression explode]] into [[SpaceIsCold clouds of ice]]. [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools However]], some of the modern misrepresentations can be put down to the RuleOfCool, [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality artistic license]], or simply the belief that audiences [[TheCoconutEffect wouldn't accept it any other way]].