outer space

I believed the sun and the moon were the same thing, just rotated to change from day to night.

Daniel

that there really was a man on the moon at all times

Anon

I used to believe that the moon was the place where I was living and this planet was a reflection to it.

Albert

I used to believe that the moon landing was a fake...all because my mom had made a joke that I thought was real

Jennifer Camille

i used to think we were inside the earth then i thought how do rockets lift off and we cant be on the other side or we will float away then my mom told me the we are on the outside

Anon

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

I thought the patterns on a full moon were people up there at a table having dinner together

Suzan

I used to think that when the crickets chirped at night, it was the stars making that noise because when I looked at the stars, they neemed to flicker and it corresponded with the chirping of the crickets...sometimes when I listen to the crickets now, I still get the image in my mind of the starts glowing and flickering.

Angela

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

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 believed that when a star twinkled it was Jesus winking at me.

GoldenGem

I used to think the CareBears lived on the moon, and the blackish spots (actually craters) were where the CareALot cities were.

Anon

I used to believe that the stars are actually star-shaped (like a pentagram or the star of david), and they only seemed dotlike since they are so far away.

ibid

I believed that we lived inside the earth, not on it. This was probably because there was a cartoon sticker on my cupboard of two rockets exploding through the surface of the earth. The image left me wondering just how space shuttles actually managed to burst through the earth's 'skin' to make it into space. Bizarre

Dave

I believed that the sun sets and rise again as a moon until it was studied in my first Science class.

Chome

one night, a few years ago, my mom and I were sitting outside and enjoying the starry night. My sister, who was about four or five at that time, came out to join us. All of a sudden, she gave a horrified scream and ran indoors. My mom went after her, puzzled as to what had suddenly startled her. My sister explained that when she looked up, all the astronauts in the sky were shining their torchlights at her! She was talking about the stars!

Petrina

Until i was, like, 10, I never got the Uranus joke. I'd ask my mom, "Whats a nus? And why am I one?"

Pieguy

When I was around 8 I used to think about the enormity of the universe and have panic attacks, and sometimes nightmares (blind terror) when I thought about what we humans really are, and how we came into being. I wondered; was our universe just a crumb on the table of a giant. I was always being told off by my Dad for "having my head in the clouds", and forgetting things.

Andy B.

There is a star cluster called the Hyadees (pronounced "HIGH-uh-deez"), which makes up the bull's face in the constellation of Taurus, the bull. My niece, Heidi, when she was a child, thought it was her very own star cluster, because "Hyades star cluster" sounds quite similar to "Heidi's star cluster'

Jeff