outer space

I used to think that stars were real tiny things in space and didn't know that they were other suns besides our own.

Anon

I used to believe that we lived inside the earth instead of on it and that rockets headed for space had to break through the "top" of the earth first.

KJ

I used to believe that at the end of the universe was a big plywood wall.

matt

When I was really little I used to belief that fireworks dropped out of the sky from outer space.

davesgrl2001

My brother believed up until the age of twelve that the "Big Bang" was the meteor crash that made the dinosaurs extinct.

Jackie F.

I remember being four or younger when I first came up with this.

It worried me that the universe was infinite - or rather, because 'infinite' was perhaps not in my vocabulary, it worried me that space should be black forever. Surely it couldn't just go on being black. Everything had an end, surely... although obviously the universe didn't stop, because what would be outside it? This was my solution. After space had stretched on for a long time and way, it stopped being black, and there was a kind of barrier. After that, it was white. Then it was probably brown. And then yellow. I don't remember the exact order after that, but I suppose I assumed that you could go on inventing colours infintely, or perhaps repeat a sequence of them infinitely, and that that would resolve the problem.

Rhube

I believed for a very long time that the Moon was the back of the sun. My big brother told me that and it would make sense: Everyday the sun shines because it faces us and at night it faces other people and we're actually looking at it's butt! I feel so silly sharing this!

Tashiana

When I was in third grade, I read in a science book that someday the sun would become a nova. I must have figured "someday" was imminent because would I lay awake night after night wishing that the sun would not explode and incinerate the Earth. The sun seems to be holding together so far...

MaryK

I was convinced that the moon was God's fingernail, and that he grew it and grew it and finally cut it, and then it grew again.

Kiwi

I used to think the sun and the moon were the same thing. When it changed back and forth, that was what caused daytime and nighttime.

Adessa

I thought that there was this one star in the sky that would instantly turn you into an oven if you looked at it. For 2 years I was afraid of looking at the night sky

Anon

When I was a little girl I used to believe the sun and the moon were two lovers and the stars there children, one night I was looking the sky ans this night I didn't see any stars, I was crying because for me all the children of the moon and the sun were dead

julette212

As a very little kid I remember being taken to the planetarium to watch some film about the solar system. The narrarator gave the specific distance between Earth and various other planets. I was outraged because they were obviously making this all up. The only way to record distance was by looking at the mileage numbers on a car's dashboard as you drove. I was smart enough to know you couldn't drive to Mars!

toon

When I was a little girl, I used to believe that sometimes the Moon would break down. The only way NASA could tell it was broken was when it would "smile" at the Earth. NASA would send the astronauts way up there to fix it. Astronauts were REALLY smart because they were the only guys in the whole world who could fix the Moon! My dad went along with it!

Charisse

When I was small my cousin told me that the earth had a bubble over it to keep all the trees, sand, and water from falling off. She also believed that space ships had pointed tips to puncture the bubble so they could fly into outer space. Can you imagine how horrified I was when I learned there was a hole in the atmosphere?

Anon

My aunt has told me that when I was a young child she mentioned something to me about the crickets chirping at night. I was astounded. Apparently I said to her, "Oh. I always thought that was the stars!"

jazmama

When I was young, I thought the sky was made out of concrete, aad that everyone painted it blue. Night came because, gradually, people painted it black again so everyone could sleep. Shooting stars were when people ran across the concrete with yellow paint. I was sitting in the middle of Science class one day, and Sir was explaining about night and day, and then I shouted out "So the sky isn't made out of concrete!" My friends have never let me live it down!

x-nicola-x

i used to think that because people would say that they lived "in" a certain city, or country, like, "I live IN chicago" or "i live IN the u.s.a." that the same thing applied to which planet you lived on. so i figured that earth was almost like an inflatable beach ball, and we lived inside if it. thats how i explained why there was a blue sky and that you would eventually be able to touch it if you got up high enough. i also figured that the astronauts would have to blast a hole in the sky in order to get out. i figured the stars were all the holes the astronauts had blasted.

*BLAST!*

People told me that the Big Red Spot (storm) on Jupiter was big enough to fit 100 earths into it.

For years after I was scared that the earth would get sucked inside Jupiter.

Sarah

As a rather precocious youngster, I had read in an illustrated astronomy book that in 4 billion years or so the Sun would red giant and swallow up the Earth. Since I didn't really understand how much time 4 billion years is, I thought this could happen any day. I had nightmares for months, and my mom didn't believe that that was the reason for them (not something normal kids have).

Alexia