The “outreach” messaging sometimes ends up reaching in to influence the way astronomical phenomena are interpreted by the astronomers themselves.
Take ‘Oumuamua as an example. The sinister starship of the Kornmesser diagram, along with the tie-in to Rendezvous with Rama revived more than one flagging career (present company included). I don’t think there would have been quite the same excitement had the flying hamburger illo been the first entry out of the PR gate.
Is it possible to get ‘Oumuamua right? Can one at once preserve the mystery, spur the inspiration and adhere responsibly to the scant groundings in actual fact?
I think that Sam Cabot’s version at the top of this post threads that needle admirably. Expert work with Photoshop warps his own photograph of 2017 totality into a looming occultation, sublimating the unknown and supporting 91:9 odds of 6:6:1 over 8:1:1.