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  • Essay / Astronomy in Science Fiction - 740

    Whenever we watch movies about space, the movie tends to influence our perspective on what exists in space and how things work. Due to people's lack of knowledge, it is easy for them to accept what films or images present to them. Therefore, there are many misconceptions in astronomy about how things actually work in the universe. In Neil Comens' book, Heavenly Errors, he identifies over 1600 misconceptions! For example, many people have several different theories about how the moon changes shape every night or why the stars twinkle in the night sky. People believe that the sun is the largest and brightest star in the universe. But in reality, this is not the case. The sun is classified as a star, but there are many other stars that make the sun look like a dull grain of sand. The sun is, however, very powerful. It fuses hydrogen atoms into helium. This energy will allow the sun to give off a ton of light and heat for a long time. Since the sun can give off so much energy and heat, think about how much other, larger stars give off. This brings us to the idea that the North Star, Polaris, is another star that tops the “biggest and brightest” list. Even if he's really brilliant, it's only because he's so close to us. Technically, it's a medium-sized star in a convenient location that we can guide ourselves to. Everyone has a zodiac sign on which they base their daily horoscope. But do they really know where these signs come from? First of all, this whole horoscope is actually astrology, but the real signs come from the constellations in the ecliptic. In our celestial atmosphere there is the ecliptic which is the path of the stars and constellations. On this path there are twelve constellations including Virg... middle of paper ...... quick, quick reflexes needed to avoid an asteroid. Asteroids have collided with each other before, but this is extremely rare given the distance between them. As you can see, we have been temporarily blinded by fictional things that are easy to believe and want to believe. There are so many incorrect theories and ideas and most of them are just ridiculous. Astronomy can be a very complex subject, but it is essential to understand what is really happening in our galaxy and outside the immense frontier we call space. Works Cited McDaid, Liam. “44 Common Misconceptions About Astronomy.” Sacramento City College. Np, and Web. November 12, 2013. Rao, Joe. “10 Popular Misconceptions Explained About Astronomy.” » Environmental news and information. Np, November 14, 2011. Web. November 12. 2013. .