If you thought you had this world all figured out, get ready for it to be turned upside down- One nit-picky astronomer claims Springfield isn’t in the United States at all.
Slate’s Bad Astronomy blogger, Phil Plait, has revealed The Simpsons must actually reside in the southern hemisphere after stumbling upon possibly the biggest clue the show’s creators have revealed about Springfield’s mysterious location to date.
While watching the January 25th episode The Musk Who Fell to Earth, Plait was shocked to find evidence The Simpsons may have been fooling us all along.
The episode’s guest star Elon Musk can be seen in one scene staring out of the Simpson family dining room window and into the night’s sky, which features a crescent Moon with ends pointing to the right, a no-no for moons north of the equator (below).
“But look at the Moon. LOOK AT THE MOON!” a “chilled to the bone” Plait argued on Slate.
“It’s backwards. The scene is clearly at dinner, early evening, so that’s the setting crescent new Moon. But in the Northern Hemisphere, the tips of a waxing crescent Moon point to the left, away from the Sun.
“There’s only one way. Springfield is not in the United States at all. It’s not even in our half of the world. Springfield is in the Southern Hemisphere!”
Of course, there is the 1995 episode Bart vs. Australia which would appear to dampen the possibility of Homer and Co. really being Aussies and not actually from one of America’s 29 Springfields.
