Heavenly Errors
Have you ever thought that…
- The Sun is yellow?
- The Moon orbits the Earth?
- Mercury, closest planet to the Sun, is the hottest terrestrial planet?
- Mars is physically the most similar planet to Earth?
- Saturn is the only planet with rings?
- The Moon does not rotate (spin on its axis)?
- Stars twinkle (rapidly change brightness)?
- Black holes are black?
- Comet tails point behind them as they travel through space?
If you think any of these statements are true you harbor a misconception!
This website presents over 1700 common misconceptions that people have about astronomy, along with links to the correct science for many of them. If you wish to learn more about the origins of misconceptions, how they can be corrected, and the details of some of them, check out the book Heavenly Errors: Misconceptions about the real nature of the universe.
Astrophysics
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- Thought revolution and rotation mean the same thing
- Thought glass is a solid
- Thought intuition is a reliable guide to astronomy
- Thought theory in science was any idea, not necessarily one that could be tested
- Thought distances are determined only by space probes
- Thought we could travel to other planets much faster than we can
- Thought science progresses in an orderly manner
- Thought contact lenses are rubber
- Thought matter can be given escape velocity and leave Earth
- Thought Angstrom was a measurement of electrical current
- Thought objects always spin the same way they revolve
- Thought weak force is the weakest force
- Thought mass and weight are the same thing
- Thought gasses have no mass
- Thought the millimeter is the smallest unit of measurement
- Thought scientific notation was only used in physics
- Thought there is only one force of nature
- Thought a lightyear is longer than a parsec
- Thought there is only one type of water (i.e. no D2O )
- Thought the electromagnetic force is the strongest
- Thought water drains differently in the southern hemisphere
- Thought forces are always attractive
- Thought parsec is a measurement of time
- Though magnetic poles of bodies do not move or flip
- Thought the Sun was the only source of cosmic rays
Atomic, Nuclear and Particle Physics
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- Thought anti-particles are science fiction
- Thought electrons are hard spheres
- Thought an atom is different than an element
- Thought all electrons in an atom are identical
- Thought neutrons have negative charges
- Thought fusion and fission are the same thing
- Thought everything has mass
- Thought all elementary particles are hard spheres
- Thought electrons can exist in any atomic orbits
- Thought energy can not be created or destroyed
- Thought spontaneous pair production is physically impossible
- Thought elements are formed in places other than stars
- Thought all isotopes are radioactive
- Thought electrons exist in orbits like planetary orbits
- Thought protons and electrons are the same except for charge
- Thought anti-particles could not exist in the solar system
- Thought fusion readily occurs at any temperature
- Thought electron orbits are perfectly circular
- Thought mass/matter are conserved
- Thought nothing is smaller than an atom
- Thought mass cannot be converted to energy
- Thought the only evidence for neutrinos came from experiments in the polar regions
- Thought electrons can’t gain energy
- Thought there is no possibility of neutrino mass
- Thought electrons, protons, and neutrons always existed
- Thought all elements formed on Earth
- Thought ions have a different number of protons and neutrons
- Thought electrons are not particles
- Thought elements have other differences beyond proton number
- Thought isotopes have different number of protons
Black Holes
Formation
- Thought black holes create themselves from nothing (maybe)
- Thought black holes are empty space or are holes in space
- Thought black holes always existed; they are not formed from stars
- Thought that all black holes formed from stars
- Thought black holes were caused by anti-matter
- Thought all exploding stars became black holes
- Thought black holes are caused by chemicals used by humans
- Thought black holes form from gas
Activities
- Thought black holes are like a vacuum, sucking things in
- Thought black holes are bottomless pits
- Thought black holes are doors to other dimensions
- Thought we could live in a voyage through a black hole
- Thought we can travel through time in a black hole
- Thought a single black hole will eventually suck in all matter in the universe
- Thought black holes are doorways to other worlds
- Thought objects entering a black hole remain intact
- Thought objects entering a black hole evaporate
- Thought black holes lead to another galaxy
- Thought black holes expand
- Thought black holes increase in mass
- Thought black holes don’t affect time
- Thought Quasars, Pulsars, and Novae are the result of stars being sucked into a black hole
- Thought a black hole could make time go backwards
- Thought black holes “lead somewhere”
Properties
- Thought black holes last forever
- Thought black holes didn’t exist
- Thought black holes can be seen visually
- Thought we can’t detect a black hole
- Thought black holes didn’t have mass
- Thought black holes get bigger forever and nothing can stop them from doing so
- Thought black holes can only be entered from one “side” (similar to funnel concept)
- Thought black holes are two-dimensional tunnels, funnels, tornados, or whirlpools that you have to face to see
- Thought that time is same for people inside and outside black holes
- Thought black holes are physically larger than they actually are
- Thought there is only one “kind” or type of black hole
- Thought black holes don’t emit particles
- Thought black holes have solid surfaces
- Thought the more mass a black hole has, the faster it disappears
- Thought black holes have no measurable properties
- Thought black holes never disappear
- Thought black holes are black
- Thought black holes could not rotate
- Thought black holes are empty dark spaces
- Thought black holes were 2D
- Thought all black holes rotate
- Thought black holes are actually holes
- Thought black holes exist on planets
- Thought black holes are dense stars
- Thought all black holes have a point singularity
- Thought black holes can be seen in the night sky
- Thought a black hole contains infinite matter
Religious Uses
- Thought black holes are places that bad children are sent for punishment
- Thought black holes are places where the souls of fallen angles are sent
- Thought black holes are places where the spirits of children reside for whom souls are not available
- Thought the event horizon is the gate to hell (from the movie Event Horizon)
General
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- Thought there is only one black hole: The Black Hole
- Thought black holes exist only in other galaxies
- Thought white holes exist
- Thought the gravity of a black hole would be stronger than when the object was a starv
- Thought the Milky Way Galaxy could contain no black holes
Cosmology
Motion
- Thought universe is shrinking
- Thought everything in universe is accelerating outward
- Thought all galaxies are moving away from Earth
- Thought the universe has stopped expanding
- Thought the universe is moving, but not expanding
- Thought universe is expanding at constant speed
Size
- Thought the universe is smaller than it actually is
- Thought time and space are infinite (or universe is infinite)
- Thought the universe has always been “huge”
- Thought the universe is too big to measure
Age/History
- Thought time scales are shorter in astronomy than they actually are
- Thought God formed everything at one time
- Thought the universe has existed forever
- Thought the universe was younger
- Thought we knew precise age of the universe
- Thought science has disproved God
- Thought Big Bang formation from collision
- Thought the universe will explode
- Thought universe same age as solar system
- Thought the universe is older than it is
General
1. Thought universe a random bunch of stars and solar systems
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- Thought universe a random bunch of stars and solar systems
- . Thought we have located the center of the universe
- Thought all the matter in the universe was accounted for
- Thought all chemical composition was set by the Big Bang
- Thought there was a tiny, massive blob that is the universe before the big bangChoose one:http://www.fortunecity.com/emachines/e11/86/big-bang.html http://library.thinkquest.org/28327/html/universe/cosmology/big_bang.html
- Thought all heat energy from Big Bang is all gone
- Thought universe is more “orderly” than is
- Thought the most common elements in universe are those on Earth
- Thought Big Bang had effects after explosion (keeps things expanding)
- Thought every object in space is spherical
- Thought all elements had formed at the same time
- Thought all objects created in the big bang
- Thought the universe is just dead space
- Thought the universe will end when all present stars die
- Thought the temperature of the universe was absolute zero
- Thought we can observe the entire universe
- Thought there is something outside the universe which the universe is expanding into
- Thought cosmology deals with makeup
- Thought the universe had no overall shape
- Thought cosmology and cosmogony are the same
- Thought there could only be one universe
- Thought there is no sign of the Big Bang left today
- Thought Big Bang had been disproved
- Thought there are a universal “up” and “down” in the universe
Electromagnetic Radiation
Eyes
- Thought eyes see all colors with equal sensitivity
- Thought our eyes see a large fraction of all electromagnetic radiation
- Thought our eyes are most sensitive to red
- Thought human eyes are sensitive to the entire spectrum
Danger
- Thought x-rays are most dangerous type of photons
- Thought UV are the most dangerous photons
- Thought gamma rays turn you into a monster
- Thought radiation only refers to dangerous UV, x-ray and gamma rays
- Thought infrared is lethal radiation
- Thought UVB photons are relatively harmless
- Thought all electromagnetic radiation is harmful
- Thought x-rays are not dangerous
Color
- Thought that white is a color
- Thought that white is the absence of color
- Thought white is a primary color
- Thought the combination of all colors is black
Photons
- Thought longest wavelength photons carried the most energy
- Thought photons are not affected by gravity
- Thought photons we can’t see don’t pass through or hit us
- Thought photons have mass
- Thought photons behave only as particles
- Thought photons are particles that make up photographs
- Thought cameras are more efficient at gathering photons than they are
- Thought photons travel on waves
Speed
- Thought different kinds of electromagnetic radiation travel at different speeds
- Thought the speed of light is the same in all media
- Thought light traveled infinitely fast — thought we see things as they are now
- Thought radio waves travel at the speed of sound (e.g. radios)
- Thought matter could travel at or above the speed of light
General
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- Thought cosmic rays are electromagnetic rays of some kind
- Thought x-rays are only from doctors and dentists, not made naturally and traveling in space
- Thought luminosity depended on distance
- Thought there is no way to see through clouds (such as radar does on Venus)
- Thought a light year is a measure of time
- Thought light year measures quantity of light
- Thought visible light is fundamentally different from other em radiations
- Thought different kinds of electromagnetic radiation are totally different “things”
- Thought laser beams don’t diverge
- Thought light is the flow of electrons
- Thought all electromagnetic radiation passes through the Earth’s atmosphere
- Thought infrared can only be detected at night
- Thought light reflects more off a rough surface than a smooth
- Thought that all radio waves were created by humans
- Thought spectra are all continuous
- Thought spectrum of light is the shape the light made
- Thought radio waves are shorter than visible light
- Thought light only has a wave nature
- Thought gamma rays are not real
- Thought spectrum could not be used to determine chemical composition
- Thought spectra only had to do with the Sun
- Thought all em radiation is visible
- Thought x-rays, radio waves, and gamma rays only exist on Earth
- Thought all light is scattered the same amount
- Thought only water and glass scatter light
Gravity
Causes
- Thought gravity is caused by magnetic fields
- Thought gravity is caused by the Earth’s rotation
- Thought gravity causes the Earth’s rotation
- Thought the Sun was the only source of gravity
- Thought the Earth is the only planet with gravity
Presence
- Thought that gravity existed only on Earth
- Thought only large bodies of matter have gravity
- Thought only the solid parts of the Earth, not the oceans, gravitationally pull on the moon
- Thought only Earth had gravity
- Thought gravity does not exist in empty space
- Thought the Sun does not have gravity
Effects
- Thought gravity should eventually pull all planets together
- Thought gravity only affects “nearby” objects
- Thought the Sun’s gravity keeps the moons in orbit around their respective planets
- Thought objects falling down towards Earth move in straight line as seen from Earth
- Thought the moon’s gravitational pull on the Earth is less than the Earth’s on the moon
- Thought heavier objects fall at a greater rate
- Thought that gravity keeps stars from collapsing
Properties
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- Thought that gravity is the strongest force in nature
- Thought gravity travels faster than the speed of light
- Thought orbital periods of any body depend on its mass
- Thought gravity can be turned on and off in special chambers
- Thought gravity and electromagnetism are the only forces in nature
- Thought satellites need continuous power to stay in orbit around the Earth
- Thought the laws of Gravity applied everywhere
- Thought gravity is the only force of nature
- Thought gravity depends on size not on mass
- Thought gravity is not the weakest for of nature
- Thought one planet’s gravity does not affect another planet
History and Philosophy of Astronomy
History
- Thought most discoveries are intentional, rather than accidental
- Thought Russia and West did not exchange information about space
- Thought Newtonian physics is exactly correct
- Thought that the U.S. put the first spacecraft in space
- Thought John Glenn was the first astronaut on the moon
- Thought Lance Armstrong was the first astronaut on the moon
- Thought Americans were the first to photograph the moonh
- Thought only the first trip (Apollo 11) landed on the moon
- Thought Columbus proved the world was round
- Thought the moonlanding was a hoax
- Thought a.m. and p.m. are terms from the bible
- Thought Neil Armstrong was not the first astronaut on the moon
- Thought Neil Armstrong was not the first astronaut on the moon
- Thought helium was first discovered on Earth
- Thought Newton invented the idea of gravity
- Thought fewer people have walked on the moon than actually have
- Thought that more than 100 people have already landed on the Moon
- Thought that the Russians have landed people on the moon
Astronomers
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- Thought astronomers knew more about the universe than they do
- Thought that astronomical information is always correct
- Thought all astronomers are observers or use telescopes
- Thought astronomers spend most of their time looking through telescopes
- Thought that astronomical figuring of mass, distance, and temperature of planets is all speculative
- Thought astronomy is just looking at stars and constellations
- Thought physics has no bearing on astronomy
- Thought scientific theories are always discarded, not revised, when shown to be inaccurate
- Thought astronomy and astrology are same thing
- Thought astronomy could not make predictions about the future
- Thought astronomy is only the study of stars
- Thought the stars can be used to predict the future
- Thought astronomy was mostly guesswork
- Thought astronomy was not a science
- Thought no “professional” is searching for extra-terrestrial life
- Thought we do not know what is beyond the solar system
- Thought astronomers know more about Pluto than they do
Ice
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- Thought ice is always water, not carbon dioxide, methane, and ammonia
- Thought ice doesn’t exist in space
- Thought dry ice is just really cold water ice
- Thought there is only one kind of ice
- Thought ice is denser than water
Interstellar Space
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- Thought space between stars is completely empty
- Thought it is warm in space
- Thought we can hear sound in space
- Thought there is air in space
- Thought there is friction in interstellar space
- Thought there are not clouds in interstellar space 5 SE/SM (“I don’t see any”)
- Thought planes could fly in space
- Thought the Ring Nebula is really a ring
- Thought nebulae glow from their own energy
- Thought planetary nebulas are dust formed from an exploded planet
- Thought planetary nebulas are the “stuff” that planets are made from
- Thought planetary nebulas are more violent explosions than they really are
- Thought “empty space” has no dangers, such as radiation or weightlessness
- Thought Nebulae are rings
- Thought there are no gas clouds in space
- Thought nebulae are clusters of stars
Milky Way
General
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- Thought the Milky Way is the only galaxy
- Thought the Milky Way is the center of the universe
- Thought the Milky Way galaxy is just our solar system
- Thought the Milky Way is smaller than it actually is
- Thought the Milky Way is shrinking
- Thought the Milky Way is largest galaxy
- Thought the Milky Way is stationary
- Thought the Milky Way is just composed of stars — no gas and dust
- Thought the Milky Way is mostly gas and dust
- Thought the Milky Way is just an area of rocks, not stars
- Thought the Milky Way is just the band of light across the sky, not a galaxy
- Thought all the light we see of the Milky Way is from stars
- Thought the Milky Way has fewer stars than it actually has
- Thought we see all stars in the Milky Way
- Thought the Milky Way galaxy is spherical
- Thought the Milky Way has no overall shape
- Thought the Milky Way has only two spiral arms
- Thought the Milky Way band across the sky was caused by an explosion
- Thought the Big Bang only described the creation of the Milky Way
- Thought the Milky Way is a solid body
- Thought the outer limits of the Milky Way are the tips of its spiral arms
- Thought the dark regions in the Milky Way are devoid of stars
- Thought the Milky Way spans the Universe
- Thought we cannot see the Milky Way since we are in it
- Thought the Milky Way has only a small number of stars
- Thought the Milky Way is just a cluster of stars
- Thought the Milky Way is a galaxy different from our own
- Thought the Milky Way Galaxy was named for the candy bar
- Thought most of the stars in the Universe are in the Milky Way
- Thought the Milky Was is band shaped
- Thought the center of the Milky Way is just a really big star
- Thought the Milky Way is bigger than the universe
- Thought we knew nothing about the size of the Milky Way
- Thought the Milky Way has no nucleus
- Thought the light of the Milky Way is shining from heaven
Relativity
General
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- Thought neither mass nor time changed with speed
- Thought that time is the same for everyone, everywhere
- Thought space does not change “shape” in the presence of matter
- Thought there are only 3 dimensions
- Thought mass does not vary with speed
- Thought that time could never slow down
- Thought light always travels in a straight line
- Thought space is flat
Telescopes
Magnification
- Thought that the only (or most important) function of telescopes is magnification
- Thought objects could be magnified indefinitely by any telescope with correct lenses
- Thought the only way to change magnification is to use another telescope
- Thought telescopes can have unlimited magnification
- Thought longer telescopes provide more magnification than shorter ones
- Thought telescopes make objects appear their “real” size
- Thought telescopes magnified stars
- Thought mirrors could not be used to magnify
Resolving Power
- Thought telescopes couldn’t resolve planets
- Thought smaller telescopes enable astronomers to see smaller details
- Thought telescopes can resolve stellar surfaces
- Thought optical telescopes could, in principle, see all objects in space
- Thought telescopes can only see stars
- Thought optical telescopes could, in principle, see more matter than other types
- Thought the Dawes’ limit was on magnification
Types/Optics
- Thought radio telescopes transmit signals to stars, rather than receive signals
- Thought reflecting telescopes are inferior to refracting telescopes
- Thought all telescopes use mirrors
- Thought telescope mirrors were coated on their bottom sides
- Thought all lenses are made of glass
- Thought only optical telescopes exist
- Thought non-optical telescopes don’t reveal much, compared to optical telescopes
- Thought all telescopes are refractors
- Thought telescopes never have more than two mirrors
- Thought telescopes require only 1 lens
- Thought telescope lenses/mirrors are flat, circular disks
- Thought secondary mirrors block all the light from certain objects in the telescope’s field of view
- Thought only way to use a telescope is to look in it
- Thought spectroscopes are only used to measure radio waves
- Thought gamma ray telescopes have not been invented yet
- Thought all telescopes are still small
- Thought telescopes primary research guide for astronomers
- Thought lenses are spherical
- Thought Newtonian telescopes are useful for research
- Thought telescope images are right side up
- Thought telescopes were invented by Galileo
- Thought a spectrograph is a type of telescope
- Thought infrared telescopes could be used anywhere
- Thought all telescopes are the same except for size
- Thought telescopes do not change image except for magnification
- Thought refractors use mirrors
- Thought lenses could not sag (due to gravity)
- Thought there is only one type
- Thought all telescopes are reflecting
- Thought a camera instead of a CCD is still the preferred way of producing image in astronomy
- Thought telescopes cannot see beyond the solar system
- Thought light would not bend as it went through glass
- Thought defects such as bubbles do not occur in lenses
- Thought defects with inverted (upside down and backward) images are defective
Hubble/Observatories
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- Thought Hubble space telescope is unusable
- Thought warping of Hubble space telescope is inches or feet
- Thought all telescopes are on Earth, that there are none in space
- Thought that observatories are built on mountains or in space is to get them closer to the stars
- Thought telescopes were only used to look at stars
- Thought the Hubble could take sharper images because it was closer
- Thought that Hubble made the Hubble Space Telescope
Thermodynamics
General
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- Thought color and temperature are unrelated
- Thought red hot objects are the hottest
- Thought blue objects are coolest
- Thought white objects are hottest
- Thought orange objects are the hottest
- Thought only hot objects emit light