Sun is a star ???

It's interesting how some things we take for granted.

I was recently made aware of real people...of flesh and blood...not religious in any way...who are completely dumbfounded by the fact that all those little twinkling lights in the night sky are stars similar to our own Sun.

These are grown people. Not kids.

Also...to this day...overwhelming numbers of people think that "shooting stars" really are...falling stars. Whatever a Star is...obviously.

Anyway...I'd like to thank Captian Kirk, Mr. Spock and the entire cast of Star Trek series...for teaching me basics as a child, some grown people seem to miss out.

p.s. Special thanks to Seven of Nine for making the universe that much tighter.

At the end of last year I was watching a meteor shower, one girl I was with said, "How do the stars not crash into each other?". I said nothing, didn't have the willpower.

p.s. Special thanks to Seven of Nine for making the universe that much tighter.

Mmm, mmmmm mmmm mmmmm, yessir.

a reply to: MarioOnTheFly

In primary school I was taught that gravity is a result of the Earth spinning and 'sucking' us down onto it.

Can you honestly believe that is what I was taught?

So later in life I often ask primary school teachers "What is gravity? How do we not float away?" The answers are scary.

I enjoy asking people randomly, what is the closest star to earth?

Mind you I ask of all levels of intelligence and professions.

The number one answer to date,...

The moon. I kid you not!

Ask around in your life. You may be shocked.

"The sun isn't a star. It's WAY too big." I have heard these words from the mouth of adult.

a reply to: MarioOnTheFly

Dumbfounded, I know crazy non religious people who think it all started from a Big Bang that was caused by nothing for no reason and then someho the elements were created from nothing and water and suddenly life again from nothing

Grown adults, not children real flesh and blood not plastic

I don't know what country you are from but teaching people about stars wasn't the only thing they failed at

dp sorry

Ahh public schools today....After reading these horror stories , I am ashamed to be part of the human race today. Very early in school we were taught the classes and colors of stars. Any one remember , Oh Be A Fine (whatever begins with a G) Kiss Me Right Now? That the sun was a Class G yellow dwarf STAR....

a reply to: MarioOnTheFly

Indeed, the level of ignorance of basic science that one can encounter during a day in the life, is sometimes utterly staggering.

All that one can do, is explain to those who will listen, what the reality of it all is.

a reply to: TrueBrit

Very true, perhaps it should be renamed 'Life' as opposed to 'Science' then people may not be put off!

a reply to: MarioOnTheFly

Don't forget galaxies

originally posted by: Raggedyman
a reply to: MarioOnTheFly

Dumbfounded, I know crazy non religious people who think it all started from a Big Bang that was caused by nothing for no reason and then someho the elements were created from nothing and water and suddenly life again from nothing

Grown adults, not children real flesh and blood not plastic

I don't know what country you are from but teaching people about stars wasn't the only thing they failed at

Hey...without going into fanciful theories or their validity...this is as plain and simple...and verifiable...as it gets. The Sun is a star...just like those twinkly thingies in the sky.

This is from my perspective...a non religious/scientific fact of life.

originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: MarioOnTheFly

Indeed, the level of ignorance of basic science that one can encounter during a day in the life, is sometimes utterly staggering.

it's not even a matter of Science anymore....me thinks.

Everytime I hear something like this...I get a sudden urge to start the ridicule...then I'm taken aback by "they just dont know or dont care"...leave it be. But I wonder if leaving it be is counter productive in the long run.

a reply to: MarioOnTheFly

When someone declares themselves to be scientifically under informed, I personally prefer to illuminate the subject matter for them. You never know when something you say to someone, might fire their imaginations enough that they go off and actually read up on some information that they lack.

a reply to: TrueBrit


I'm scientifically underinformed...but some things are...self evident...even to an ignoramous like me.

But I understand your desire to help others

When I was a child, I got a lot of this information from the habit of reading books.
I wonder how much the acquisition of scientific knowledge is being watered down by the shift in focus, from physical books to the internet.

Having said that, I was reading Dante's Purgatory a couple of years back, and I noticed that both Penguin translators made the same basic scientific mistake.
Jerusalem and Purgatory are on opposite sides of the earth, so that one is in daylight while the other is in darkness, but both translators explained this in their notes as the difference between the northern and southern hemispheres (rather than between east and west).

It all origin in the basic teaching of our own solar system and the planets, people are told about the planets and they can be seen in the sky as "stars", but never told about anything out of our solar system.

They then believe that all stars are planets and not suns, pretty innocent really.

Some people become doctors and some astronomers, the doctors know little about stars, but stupid they are not.

I honestly think, in most cases, it's "Don't know, Don't wanna know, Don't care". In an age where you have vast amounts of information at your finger tips, it's just lazy to be that ignorant.

a reply to: MarioOnTheFly

You really should have done a search on this topic.It's been posted before.😃

I had a guy at work say that he didn't understand why the Earth didn't fall down.I walked away.

(It IS falling,but there's no "down" in space)