In science fiction films and anime, why do we see some planets are close in the sky?

In science fiction films and anime, why do we see some planets are close in the sky? - Full Moon in the Night Sky

It's very common to see this view but in reality, our earth doesn't have that one. We only have one Moon orbiting around our Mother planet. In sci-fi movies what is this term commonly called? Most western movies some Japanese sci-fi anime includes that view.

For example in the 2009 science fiction film Avatar, you can see there is a planet seen in the sky:

3 images showing a large gas giant in the sky

It looked like Jupiter but the planet is Polyphemus.

Here's a promotional photo of the movie Avatar with a fantasy landscape view, where a planet is seen in the sky:

daytime shot with the planet in the background, shows 2 main characters in the foreground in the water

In the 2014 dieselpunk sci-fi movie Garm Wars: The Last Druid By Mamoru Oshii, we can also see one planet in the sky called "Gaia":

planet peeking behind clouds

The 1985 retro futuristic anime series Dirty Pair we also see the landscape of a futuristic city "Eleanor" where planets are also seen on the night cloudy sky, one is a large planet and one small planet are seen in the sky:

Eleanor City skyscape

Daytime view of the planets in the sky on Eleanor City

Damocles Tower Landscape With A Planets On A Daytime Sky

Why did the director or the creator put some planets like these in the sky like this?



Best Answer

Your question could be interpreted as either:

  • Our Earth doesn't have a view like this. What is different about these planets that makes this view correct? The answer to this is simple. Earth is a planet, with a smaller orbiting moon. Both examples of inhabited "planets" you show here (Panora and Annwn) are smaller moons orbiting larger planets. You would expect, especially in the case of Pandora, orbiting a much larger gas-giant, to see this represented in the sky.

  • Or why do the writers and directors choose a situation like this for their stories? This is a little harder to have a distinct verifyable answer since it may vary from story to story. However it does provide a distinctly alien view to the world which adds to the aesthetic of a science fiction movie, much in the same way as Tatooine's two suns do so in Star Wars. Also, it simply looks pretty.




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In science fiction films and anime, why do we see some planets are close in the sky? - Photo of night sky



Why is the moon always huge in movies?

A diagram of the Moon seen against a cloud of the same size, at different heights in the sky. When the Moon is high, the clouds it is against are closer to the viewer and appear larger. When the Moon is low in the sky, the same clouds are further away and appear smaller, giving the illusion of a larger Moon.

What is the most realistic space movie?

Three of the Most Scientifically Accurate Sci-Fi Space Movies
  • The Martian (2015) The production crew of The Martian took great pains to be scientifically accurate, as did the book's writer Andy Weir. ...
  • Interstellar (2014) Interstellar is known for being very accurate when it comes to the visual effects. ...
  • Contact (1997)


What was the first space movie ever made?

Le Voyage dans la Lune, created by Georges M\xe9li\xe8s in 1902 is often considered to be the first science fiction film. It drew upon Jules Verne and H. G. Wells in its depiction of a spacecraft being launched to the moon in a large cannon.

How can I see other planets from Earth?

The easiest way to pick out planets is to remember this quick rule of thumb: stars twinkle and planets don't. Seen with the naked eye, planets and stars both appear as pinpoints of light. When you observe a star, you'll notice that it twinkles and the light may appear to change colors.



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More answers regarding in science fiction films and anime, why do we see some planets are close in the sky?

Answer 2

The most direct answer to your question, is that the director thought it improved the visuals of his production.

Some of those directors will have put some thought into how to justify such a view in their sky and will come up with the exact placement and orbits that will allow such a view.

Other directors will just decide they want a particular view, and not care how such a view could realistically take place, or whether it would realistically be possible.

Both of these are perfectly valid choices, though a story with a more realistic or hard sci-fi setting should probably lean heavily towards a more physically realistic scene.

Answer 3

The question answer obviously hasn't seen a lot of old science fiction movies and tv shows or they would have mentioned some other examples, as in Str Trek: The Motion Picture and on Rigel VII in "The Cage"/"Menagerie" in Star Trek: The Original Series.

I have seen many films where Earth's Moon looks vast as seen from Earth. Those films were shot with telephoto lenses to make the Moon look far larger than it would be seen with the naked eye.

And certainly viewers can suppose that some of the scenes showing worlds in the sky of alien worlds might be normal vision and some might be what you would see though telephoto lenses, thus making the worlds in the sky look much wider than they would with the naked eye.

I believe there was a question asking what would be the greatest angular diameter of another world seen from a habitable world. I think that was in the Worldbuilding Stack Exchange. And different answers gave different maximum angles - even the smallest being several times as wide as the Moon as seen from Earth.

Here are links to related Worldbuilding questions:

Answer 4

There's a great explination in the below video

Big things closer would be easier to see. It just so happens that everything near the Earth is far away for us to see.

Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Images: MaurĂ­cio Mascaro, RODNAE Productions, stein egil liland, Faik Akmd