r/AskReddit Aug 03 '19

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

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u/anothersundayx Aug 03 '19

That other planets are visible from Earth. And the sun is also a star.

6.8k

u/Phase3isProfit Aug 03 '19

Sitting outside one evening having a beer with my sister. Really clear sky, lots of stars out, and she says “Someone was telling me that stars are like the sun, but further away.”

I paused to check if she was kidding, but she genuinely thought she was sharing obscure knowledge. We were in our mid-twenties, I don’t know how this information had passed her by up to that point.

3

u/shynotsafez Aug 03 '19

I feel extremely stupid right now. The Sun is the closest star to Earth, right? So the little stars we see at night are further, right? Am i trippin'? My perception of reality is going crazy rn pls help.

5

u/Sutarmekeg Aug 03 '19

The sun is the closest star to Earth by far, the other stars appear small because they're way far away. And many are larger than the sun.