10 space facts kids get wrong

Ten common mix-ups, each with what's really true. The numbers are from NASA's fact sheets.

How it's ordered: The mix-ups children ask about most, by our judgment.

Mercury is the hottest planet. Venus is: 464 °C on average, against Mercury's 167 °C, because its thick air traps heat.
The Sun isn't a star. It is a star, just much closer than the others. Stars at night are suns far away.
Summer is when Earth is closest to the Sun. Earth is closest in early January. Seasons come from Earth's tilt, not its distance.
Shooting stars are stars. They are grains of dust, about sand-sized, burning up in the air.
The Moon's dark side is always dark. The far side gets as much sunlight as the near side; we just never see it from Earth.
The North Star is the brightest star. It isn't even close. It is famous because it barely moves, not because it is bright.
Only Saturn has rings. Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune have rings too; Saturn's are just the big, bright ones.
There's no gravity in space. Astronauts float because they are falling around Earth all the time, not because gravity stops.
The Moon is bigger near the horizon. It only looks it. Measured, it's the same size; cover it with your thumbnail and see.
Pluto is the ninth planet. It has been called a dwarf planet since 2006. It is still out there, just in a different group.

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“Lists are fun, but the best thing in the sky is the one you find yourself.”