Buzz
As a child, I was always fascinated by astronomy. I would lie in the yard, gazing up at the stars, dreaming of the mysteries beyond. This curiosity sparked a deep love for science fiction and science in general. Although I eventually pursued a different career in music, my fascination with the cosmos has never faded. In this list, we explore 15 commonly held misconceptions about astronomy that are actually incorrect. This collection is partially inspired by the insightful book *Sorry, Wrong Answer* – which I highly recommend reading.
1 Myths 1 – 5
1. Contrary to what most people believe, the term 'Venusian' is not the correct way to describe anything related to Venus. The proper term is 'Cytherean,' named after Cytheria, the small island where Aphrodite is said to have emerged from a shell. Additionally, 'Venusian' doesn't follow the established naming conventions for planets. If you aren't calling Venus the 'Cytherean planet,' you should refer to it as the 'Venerean planet.'
2. One widely accepted myth (even endorsed as fact by members of New Zealand’s Green Party) is that crimes and accidents increase during a full moon. Although it's incredibly difficult to prove this myth wrong, no credible crime statistics support this odd belief.
3. Copernicus was not the first to propose that Earth orbits the Sun. This theory was actually first suggested by ancient thinkers, whose identities remain unknown. What we do know is that, as early as the 7th century BC, this concept was noted in Sanskrit texts.
4. NASA didn’t waste millions of dollars developing a pen for use in space when pencils would have sufficed. In fact, NASA used pencils (just like the cosmonauts), but when an inventor created a pressurized pen that worked in both space and underwater, NASA bought 400 of them for $6 each (they now cost around $50 each, and you can purchase them online here). The Soviets also bought these pens, and both countries still use the Fisher Space Pen, named after its inventor, Paul Fisher.
5. While I hesitate to revisit this myth since it has been addressed on Mytour before, here it is: The Great Wall of China is not visible from space with the naked eye, even from low Earth orbit. However, many other human-made structures, such as bridges and dams, are visible.
2 Myths 6 – 10
6. Here’s a myth I hadn’t come across before, but apparently, it’s quite widespread. The belief is that if you stand at the bottom of a deep well on a sunny day, you can see the stars. This ancient myth, first mentioned by Aristotle, is actually false. When you descend into a well, the top appears smaller, and the surrounding walls' darkness creates an illusion of a bright opening — not the necessary darkness for seeing stars.
7. This might surprise many of you, but most rocket launches in the United States don’t take place at Cape Canaveral. Instead, they mostly occur at Merritt Island in Brevard County, Florida, where NASA’s Kennedy Space Center is located. All shuttle launches have been at Merritt Island, with only a few rockets launched from the now decommissioned Launch Complex at Cape Canaveral. The last manned mission from Cape Canaveral was more than thirty years ago.
8. Contrary to popular belief, the shuttle didn’t explode in the traditional sense. There was no explosion, shockwave, or “bang.” What viewers on the ground heard was the sudden silence as the shuttle’s fuel tank ruptured, releasing liquid oxygen and hydrogen in a massive fireball at 46,000 feet. (Some documentaries later added the sound of an explosion.) The solid-fuel boosters, however, continued to ascend, unaffected by any explosion. The Challenger disintegrated as it was torn free from the other rocket components and was flung into the Mach 2 airstream. Propellant tanks exploded afterward, but by that point, the spacecraft had already broken apart. [Source]
9. The so-called 'face on Mars' has been seen by many, but despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, some people still insist it’s of alien origin. After a recent Mars flyby, NASA captured a much clearer image (shown above). Those who continue to claim it’s an artificial structure are falling victim to pareidolia.
10. Mercury, despite being the closest planet to the sun, is not the hottest. Venus holds that title due to its thick atmosphere primarily composed of carbon dioxide, which traps heat more effectively.
3 Myths 11 – 15
11. We’ve all heard about the 'dark side of the moon,' which often leads people to believe the moon is stationary. In reality, the moon rotates just like Earth, completing one rotation per orbit (from our perspective). Moreover, the so-called dark side is merely the night side; it's not a permanent feature any more than Earth’s night side is.
12. Galileo did not invent the telescope. The earliest functional telescopes appeared in 1608 and are credited to Hans Lippershey. Other claimants to the invention include Zacharias Janssen, spectacle-makers from Middelburg, and Jacob Metius of Alkmaar. These early telescopes featured a convex objective lens and a concave eyepiece. Galileo used this design the following year. [Source]
13. Contrary to common belief, Jupiter is not simply a massive gas planet with a small solid core. Here's why: The gas giants, including Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, all feature thick gaseous atmospheres that gradually become compressed into liquid layers primarily made up of hydrogen and helium. As pressure increases, hydrogen even transitions into a metallic state, which plays a crucial role in creating the powerful magnetic fields around these planets. It would be more accurate to describe these planets as liquid worlds encased in dense gaseous atmospheres. [Source]
14. While the Alpha Centauri system is the closest star system to Earth, neither of the two stars in the Alpha Centauri system, Alpha Centauri A or B, holds the title of the closest star. That distinction belongs to Proxima Centauri, located about 0.2 light years from the other two stars.
15. Although the video footage may suggest an explosion in the traditional sense, there was actually little combustion (fire). What happened was the failure of an O-ring on one of the solid fuel boosters. Upon launch, gases escaping from the faulty O-ring heated the massive liquid fuel tank used during the shuttle's ascent. At 72 seconds after liftoff, the strut connecting the right booster to the external tank broke. This caused the booster to pivot, smashing into the liquid oxygen tank, which led to its rupture. The rapid expansion of the fuel destroyed the shuttle, resulting in the deaths of the seven crew members. They were likely unconscious when the crew cabin, nearly intact, hit the Atlantic Ocean several minutes later. [Source]
