Bad Astronomy: Misconceptions and Misuses Revealed, from ...

6 BAD ASTRONOMY
But if they cannot get to a reliable source of information, they’ll
accept something less than reliable. People like the world to be
mysterious, magical. It’s more fun to believe that UFOs are aliens
watching us than it is to find out that the overwhelming number
of ET sightings are due to misinterpretations of common things in
the sky.
The truth can be hard, and so sometimes it really is easier to
believe in fiction. Other times, the tale has just enough of the ring
of truth that you might not question it. Do we have seasons
because Earth moves closer and then farther away from the Sun?
Can you really see stars during the day from the bottom of a well?
Over the years I have found that people tend to have a lot of
odd ideas about astronomy. Those ones I just mentioned are just a
few examples of the host of misconceptions floating around in
people’s brains. Did I say “floating”? I mean entrenched. Like the
movie scenes that ensconce themselves in our memories, misconceptions
about astronomy—about any topic—take root in our
minds and can be very difficult to weed out. As Cardinal Woosley
said, quoted by Alistair Fraser on his Bad Science web site, “Be
very, very careful what you put into that head, because you will
never, ever get it out.”
Far be it for me to disagree with His Eminence, but I think he’s
wrong. It is possible to yank that idea out and plant a healthier
one. As a matter of fact, I think sometimes it’s easier to do it that
way. I have taught astronomy, and found that even an interested
student can be easily overwhelmed in a classroom by a fire-hose
emission of facts, numbers, dates, and even pictures relating to
astronomy. There’s so much to learn, and it can be hard to find a
toehold.
However, if you start with something students already know,
or think they know, that toehold is already there. Do you think we
have seasons because the Earth’s orbit is an ellipse, and so sometimes
we’re closer to the Sun than others? Okay, fine. Can you
think of something else that might cause it? Well, what else do you
know about the seasons? They’re opposite in opposite hemispheres,
right? Southern winter is northern summer, and vice versa. So what
does that imply about our theory of what causes the seasons?