File: space/science - item number: 0
10 Confounding Cosmic Questions By Joe Rao Once while well-known astronomy lecturer and author by George Lovi (1939-1993) was running a public night at the Brooklyn College Observatory in New York, the telescope was pointed at Venus, displaying a delicate crescent shape. Yes, Venus goes through phases, just like the Moon does, as seen from our point of view. A student, surprised by the crescent, stubbornly insisted he was really looking at the Moon. Lovi pointed out that the Moon wasn't even in the sky that night. "So what?" the student said. "Doesn't a telescope show you things you can't see without it?" This is but one of a number of popular misconceptions in astronomy. Some are widely held, others linger more as confounding questions in the backs of peoples' minds. Why don't meteor showers actually rain down? Is there a South Star? Why is July so hot? Here's my own personal list of ten Confounding Cosmic Questions, in no particular order, along with some less confounding answers:
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(Monday, 23 February, 2026.)