#3219: Planets and Bright Stars

XKCD comic, described below.
Transcript

[A 4x3 grid of white dots are displayed on a black background. Above them there is caption in white text. Below each white dot there is a label in white. The dots are almost identical slightly fuzzy and white. There may be a slight color hue to some of the dots, but it is not clearly visible.]

Planets and Bright Stars identification chart

Venus

Mars

Jupiter

Saturn

Mercury

Sirius

Procyon

Antares

Altair

Betelgeuse

Vega

Polaris

(Sourced from explainxkcd.com)

An old astronomer trick for distinguishing the Sun from other stars is to take multiple photos a few minutes apart and overlay them, making the Sun stand out due to its high proper motion.

ExplainOriginal