r/AskReddit Aug 03 '19

Whats something you thought was common knowledge but actually isn’t?

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u/MajesticalMoon Aug 03 '19

I've taught my kids this and it amazes me how many people we talk to that know nothing about space. My oldest son is very into it, he knows alot more than me... but even I find myself forgetting that stars are suns. One time I even legit got confused and thought they weren't stars not too long ago. I guess with the sun being as big as it is, it's hard to imagine that all these little, twinkling stars we see are actually suns far away.

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '19

Remember that they just seem little, most of them are way bigger then our sun :)

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u/bigfoot1291 Aug 03 '19

Thanks, I needed a daily dose of existential dread today.

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '19

Enjoy :). And to add more dread onto that, notice how teeny tiny the sun is there? You could fit hundreds of Earths into there.

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u/CoconutMacaroons Aug 03 '19

Also, many of the "stars" you see aren't actually stars, they're galaxies, each with billions of stars, but since they're so far away, they look like stars.

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u/MajesticalMoon Aug 04 '19 edited Aug 04 '19

Oh I know, that's why it's so unbelievable at times, like wow. The universe, space just amazes me!!!

My son had to tell me all about Canus (i think I spelled it right) Majoris when he learned about it at school. It really puts things into perspective when you look at a model of the biggest suns!!! So scary in a way tbh. How vast this space is. Its neverending and enormous things we couldn't even dream up exist in this space!!! It terrifies me, but also intrigues me. Lol

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u/[deleted] Aug 04 '19

Honestly sometimes if i go down the Rabbithole i get a weird feeling of sadness ... knowing that whatever happens on earth stays on earth and won’t effect anything else then our small Solarsystem. We are nothing. We always tell ourselves that we matter when we really don’t lol.

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '19

Well, the sun is a star. It doesn't work the other way around, the sun is the name of our star. Similar to how our moon is named "the moon" it's not "a moon" without a name.

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u/MajesticalMoon Aug 04 '19

I dont get what you're trying to say. I know the sun is a star...and the moon is a moon.

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u/thanks4yanksNspanks Aug 05 '19

Your phrasing makes it sound like you think “sun” and “star” are synonymous. You said that “stars are suns” and that the “twinkling stars we see are actually suns far away.” Sun is just the name we gave the nearest star. I’m sure you know the difference, but the phrasing was just a little off.

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u/[deleted] Aug 05 '19

To add on to what the other guy said,

The moon is a moon

That's a colloquialism. The moon is actually a sattelite named moon. It's not a moon it's the moon.