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Misconceptions

As much fun as the movies are to review and the news is to analyze, it's the everyday misconceptions that to me are the heart and soul of Bad Astronomy. We learn a lot from school and our parents, but a lot of what fills our brain is "common knowledge", things we seem to accumulate out of thin air. Everyone knows that you can stand an egg on end on the first day of spring... or can you? Of course toilets flush the other way in the southern hemisphere... don't they?

It's these types of concepts that got these pages started in the first place. A lot of what we "know about astronomy really just isn't right. These pages are my humble attempt to set the record-- and your brain-- straight about the world's real oldest profession.

NEW STUFF!
Astrology = Garbage (April 3, 2005)
On Debating Pseudoscientists (July 5, 2004)
Topics for national radio interviews

The Egg and the Equinox:

  • Standing an Egg on End During the Vernal Equinox
  • The History of the Egg Standing Legend
  • Bad Egg: More About Egg Balancing

    Bad Idioms:

  • "A Meteoric Rise"
  • "Light Years Ahead"
  • "The Dark Side of the Moon"

    Close to Home:

  • Terminal Badness: Grand Central Terminal's Ceiling
  • Why is the Sky Blue?
  • What Causes the Seasons?
  • When do the Seasons Begin?
  • Flushed with Pride: the Coriolis Effect in Your Potty

    Bad Moon Rising:

  • Were the Apollo Moon Landings Faked?
  • Info about Bart Sibrel, who claims that the Apollo missions were faked
  • A Lunar Smokestack?
  • What Causes the Phases of the Moon
  • Can You See the Moon During the Day?
  • The Moon Does Spin
  • Hang a Big Moon: Why the Moon Looks Bigger on the Horizon

    The Sky at Night:

  • Do All Stars Look White?
  • Can You Read by Starlight?
  • Polaris, the North Star: Not So Bright
  • Myopic Binocs

    A Step Farther Out:

  • On Debating Pseudoscientists (New! July 5, 2004)
  • Debunking McCanney's Nonsense (New! July 5, 2004)
  • Debunking Hoagland's Nonsense
  • Debunking the Planet X Nonsense
  • Another Face in the Crowd
  • Does the Venus Transit Cause Floods? (June 2004)
  • Disharmonious Noncordance
  • Will Galileo Make Jupiter a Star?
  • Tides, the Earth, the Moon
  • The Grand Alignment of Planets on May 5, 2000
  • More about the Alignment
  • What's Your Sign? Astrology and the Zodiac
  • What If the Sun Collapses into a Black Hole
  • Are Mini-comets Hitting the Earth?
  • Why Hubble Data Are Withheld for a Year
  • A Hubble Model and the Speed of Light

    A Step Way Farther Out: My Appearances on the "Coast to Coast AM" radio show

  • Topics for "Coast to Coast AM" interview (Nov. 15, 2003)
  • Topics for "Coast to Coast AM" interview (Feb. 26, 2004)
  • Topics for "Coast to Coast AM" interview (Dec. 22, 2004)
  • On April 29, 2005, I was on C2C for just a few minutes talking about the first ever picture taken of an extrasolar planet.
  • On July 29, 2005, I was on C2C to talk about new objects discovered beyond Pluto's orbit.
  • Topics for "Coast to Coast AM" interview (Dec. 27, 2007))
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