outer space

When I was 3 or 4, my dad told me that it was cold on Mars. Being an impressionable child, I assumed that Mars was the outermost planet in the solar system. Fortunately, an early obsession with outer space fixed that when I was 6 or 7.

Mike

I used to believe we lived on the INSIDE of the earth instead of on top of it because I would hear them say "The astronauts broke through the crust of the earth" and I was amazed they could get through all that dirt.

Susan - San Francisco

I used to think that there were many moons. Full moon, half moon, sliver moon, etc. At some point I heard about new moon, and asked my dad what that was. Of course, he explained that it was all the same moon, only parts of it were in shadow.

Olivia Tacellli

My grandmother would take me on walks on warm, summer evenings. I would
hear these noises (which I found out later were crickets) and asked my
grandmother what they were. She told me "That's the sound the stars
make when they twinkle." To this day I think of her every time I hear
the summer crickets.

Sally Mansis

My daughter was 3 when the astronoughts landed on the moon. She believed that they got there by climbing a ladder

Cathie

I used to believe the banded sunset sky was the atmosphere of Jupiter! When I was 6 I studied the planets and I knew that Jupiter had pretty colored bands of clouds and that it was REALLY BIG. So when we occasionally got beautiful banded sunsets, I thought I was seeing the atmosphere of Jupiter.

Glenn Nelson (formerly from LI, NY, USA)

When I was in fourth grade, I figured out the question that has puzzled scientists and theologists for centuries: I realized that the universe was a large shoebox under the Mr. Rogers' bed. I would have called a press conference to explain my revelation, but after I had a bit of trouble trying to figure out how I had arrived at that conclusion.

Virginia W.

My dad was (and still is) an amateur astronomer. He told me about how we were all made of the same matter as stars. Me being about five at the time, I ran around looking to see if I could find "stardust" in things. I swear I saw some in a brick one time...

Drops of Jupiter

When I was a child I used to believe that stars were holes in the sky & we could see heaven shining through

June

I used to believe that the reason there were nights I couldn't see the stars was because god hadn't paid his electricity bill.

Fiona

When I was younger my father and I used to watch a lot of westerns on TV. There were always "shootouts" between the Cowboys and the Indians...I used to believe that the stars in the skies were make from the arrows and the bullets that didn't hit their mark. I thought they didn't have stars before this because in the night scenes it was always black in the sky. From the minds of children come amazing thoughts sometimes...lol...

Allie

I thought that the Great Bear constellation was only visible from our town, and that was the reason why the symbol of our town was a saucepan. Actually, it was to do with the local tin plate industry, ... not quite as romantic !

Steve

i used to believe that the moon was the sun at night, and still have some trouble coming to terms with the fact that it isnt.

andrea

I used to believe that we lived inside the world, not on it. I thought there was the outer layer of the earth behind the sky, and once asked my dad how could space shuttles pierce through the thick layer of soil surrounding (!) the sky!

OveRMinD

When I was little and there was a full moon clearly visible, that the shaddows on the moon represented a lady and gentleman sitting having a meal at the dinner table.I thought that the taller person on the left looked like a king with a crown on his head and the shorter person on the right also wearing a crown, must be the queen. Even now when I see a full moon i still can see what I imagined as a child. I guess now that fairy tales and food must have featured largely in my life. They still do, as I like happy endings and a full stomach.

Gail

When I was about 3 or 4, I use to believe the sun and moon followed us while I was riding in the car.I though the "moon character" from the 1980's McDonalds commercial actually lived on the moon and I thought that's wear they were taping the commercial. I thought cars talked and had feelings...I played school w/ my toy cars,assigned them names and everything.

sallylue

When I was small, I thought that the moon was a big cheese, and when there wasn´t a full-moon I thought that a giant had bitten of a bit of the moon/cheese.

Fjotrif Sladergk

I learned in the first grade that the Sun was a star just like all the other stars, only it was MUCH bigger.

Geoff