> Photographs of the night sky are compatible with all theories of the solar system in human history (including, eg., stars are angels). There is no summary of these photographs which gives information about the world over and above just summarising patterns in the night sky.
This is blatantly incorrect. Keep in mind that much of modern physics has been invented via observation. Kepler's law and ultimately the law of Gravitation and General Relativity came from these "photographs" of the night sky.
If you are talking about the fact that these theories only ever summarize what we see and maybe there's something else behind the scenes that's going on, then this becomes a different discussion.
This is blatantly incorrect. Keep in mind that much of modern physics has been invented via observation. Kepler's law and ultimately the law of Gravitation and General Relativity came from these "photographs" of the night sky.
If you are talking about the fact that these theories only ever summarize what we see and maybe there's something else behind the scenes that's going on, then this becomes a different discussion.