Christmas cards were caught by astronomers

A Dutch astronomer affirmed that the classic Christmas scene was popularly printed on many books, publications and greeting cards that had a very basic error.

According to CBC news agency (Canada), Peter Barthel of Kapeteyn Institute of Astronomy, the Netherlands is trying to find and fix scientific errors on greeting cards, books and newspapers and even gift wrap with printed pictures. Christmas photo.

Dutch astronomer affirmed, Christmas cards printed
depicting the crescent moon at night is wrong reality.

In his article, "Santa and the Moon" in Communicating Astronomy with the Public magazine, Mr. Barthel studied the illustrations published in many children's books, gift wrap and Christmas cards. Births were collected in both the US and the Netherlands.

This astronomer discovered, illustrators and designers have been drawing the moon regardless of the actual cycle of the moon. According to him, the most common mistake was that they portrayed a crescent-shaped, crescent-shaped moon (corresponding to the third or last quarter of the moon cycle) in Christmas scenes that took place at night while the image This fact is only visible in the early morning.

'In the illustrations, you see the children gathered around the Christmas tree or participate in decorating the house to celebrate Christmas with their parents, relatives or Saint Nicholas (Santa Claus) distributing gifts in the evening. Evening Christmas scenes should clearly portray the moon in the first quarter of the cycle or full moon that is scientifically accurate , "Barthel stressed.

Mr. Barthel affirmed, the illustration of the full moon
Christmas night is astronomically accurate.

Barthel also discovered some astronomical errors that were relatively common during other times of the year, such as around Halloween.

'In some horror movies, you hear the clock bell 12 o'clock at night and then see behind the horizon, the full moon is rising. However, this in fact cannot happen because the full moon is right at sunset. ' Added the astronomer in the Netherlands.

Barthel revealed that, after announcing the research, many people mocked his work as ridiculous and wasted time and money. However, for Barthel his goal was to use the holidays as an opportunity to teach the public the basic knowledge of astronomy and how it works.

Mr. Barthel stated, his job, as a scientist, is to direct the public's attention to common myths, then use them as examples for explanation and education.

Mr. Barthel's efforts seem to start working. The scientist received a letter from many experts illustrating Christmas cards, in which they expressed a desire to understand more about the scientific mistakes they made and how to fix them.