I saw a preview of this coming-to-Netflix “science faction” movie, about a couple of low level astronomers that discover and try to warn the world that a comet is approaching the earth.
If I said that the cast includes: Jonah Hill, Chris Evans, Timothee Chalamet, Ariana Grande, Tyler Perry, Matthew Perry, Gina Gershon and Michael Chiklis… that alone would be a freakingly good cast IMHO. But these actors are only the ensemble.
The main cast is Leo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Cate Blanchett and Meryl Streep. (all oscar winners and multiple oscar nominees)
It’s not a typo. It was introduced to me back in the 1990’s when author Michael Crichton was at the top of his writing game.
It’s meant to mean a story that has some elements sort of like science fiction, but based on technology that actually exists and is at least close to factual.
I’ll just say that some tropes are truly fantastical ideas that are far from reality are generally considered science fiction: Teleportation, faster than light travel, wormholes in space, time travel, intergalactic federations with other alien humanoids, shrink rays, etc.
Science faction would be more along the lines of what might be done by current (or readily foreseeable) technology: DNA analysis, astronomy, cloning, colonizing the moon, mining asteroids for precious metals, traveling to Mars, etc.