# Does anyone else get a kind of frightened feeling while gazing up at the night sky? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 10, 2005, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-get-a-kind-of-frightened-feeling-while-gazing-up-at-the-night-sky/325469 "2005-10-10T00:32:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-get-a-kind-of-frightened-feeling-while-gazing-up-at-the-night-sky/325469/21 "2005-10-10T10:10:36Z")
> [@GrahamWellington](#): > > \<---- I think it would terrify me to do that! Enter the [Vortex](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_Perspective_Vortex). ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-get-a-kind-of-frightened-feeling-while-gazing-up-at-the-night-sky/325469/22 "2005-10-10T10:48:32Z")
> [@movingfinger](#): > > If I am out in the middle of nowhere with nothing to hold onto, I can’t help thinking, “This would be a hell of a time for someone to turn off the gravity machine!” For the first few minutes, I get that feeling too 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-get-a-kind-of-frightened-feeling-while-gazing-up-at-the-night-sky/325469/23 "2005-10-10T11:03:07Z")
> [@GrahamWellington](#): > > Sometimes in my sleep I’ll get a shot of sudden fear by having a quick sense of seeing a distant star, causing my nothingness to jerk me awake and situate my body so I’m facing the earth, thus avoiding that sick feeling of maybe falling out into eternity. Nah, all I feel is a sense of wonder and the need for humanity to get on out there. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-get-a-kind-of-frightened-feeling-while-gazing-up-at-the-night-sky/325469/24 "2005-10-10T11:19:14Z")
When I behold, upon the night’s starred face, huge cloudy symbols of a high romance, and think that I may never live to trace their shadows with the magic hand of chance…then on the shore of the wide world, I stand alone and think 'til love and fame to nothingness do sink. ---
**Author:** ![GrahamWellington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/54ee81/32.png) [@GrahamWellington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrahamWellington)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-get-a-kind-of-frightened-feeling-while-gazing-up-at-the-night-sky/325469/25 "2005-10-10T14:21:27Z")
> [@Small Clanger](#): > > Enter the [Vortex](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_Perspective_Vortex). Pretty cool. Pretty cool. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-get-a-kind-of-frightened-feeling-while-gazing-up-at-the-night-sky/325469/26 "2005-10-10T14:29:59Z")
When I used to walk our dog late at night (as a kid), I’d look up at the vast night sky over the houses and think “Wow, that’s big” So, no, I never got frightened. Just a sense of awe looking up while waiting for Laddie to poop. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-get-a-kind-of-frightened-feeling-while-gazing-up-at-the-night-sky/325469/27 "2005-10-10T16:49:04Z")
> [@GrahamWellington](#): > > Now that it’s dark so early at this time of the year, I’ll walk to work and, when there are no clouds, look up and just flat-out get a worried kind of feeling, like thinking, “I’m a nothing; the universe is so big and I’m just a total speck. What if love has nothing to do with it? Then what?” Yeah, but that means that, no matter how badly you screw things up, it won’t affect the universe as a whole. That’s a very comforting thought sometimes, at least to me… ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-get-a-kind-of-frightened-feeling-while-gazing-up-at-the-night-sky/325469/28 "2005-10-10T18:33:28Z")
> [@Small Clanger](#): > > Enter the [Vortex](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_Perspective_Vortex). it just tells me what I always knew…I’m a really terrific and great guy ---
**Author:** ![YaWanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/bbce88/32.png) [@YaWanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YaWanna)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-get-a-kind-of-frightened-feeling-while-gazing-up-at-the-night-sky/325469/29 "2005-10-10T19:52:20Z")
Yes, I have. I even admit that sometimes, pictures of space (especially ones of planets in our solar system) freak me out a bit - though I’m OK watching science fiction movies (must be the “fiction” part). Now, the part about “what if love blah blah blah” is where you lost me. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-get-a-kind-of-frightened-feeling-while-gazing-up-at-the-night-sky/325469/30 "2005-10-10T19:59:34Z")
> [@Anne Neville](#): > > Yeah, but that means that, no matter how badly you screw things up, it won’t affect the universe as a whole. No reason not to try, though. ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-get-a-kind-of-frightened-feeling-while-gazing-up-at-the-night-sky/325469/31 "2005-10-10T20:12:35Z")
For the ultimate fear of the universe, try reading Asimov’s _Nightfall_. Personally, I always thought that being able to pick out the constellations was an awfully comforting feeling. And I like looking up at the moon and mentally shifting the spots into the various shapes (Old man, Rabbit and Cabbages, Crab, etc). ---
**Author:** ![Heart\_On\_My\_Sleeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/77aa72/32.png) [@Heart\_On\_My\_Sleeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heart_On_My_Sleeve)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-get-a-kind-of-frightened-feeling-while-gazing-up-at-the-night-sky/325469/32 "2005-10-10T20:22:46Z")
Although I am awed by the night sky, it’s more a relief to feel that I’m not really that important in the whole scheme of things. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-get-a-kind-of-frightened-feeling-while-gazing-up-at-the-night-sky/325469/33 "2005-10-10T20:43:14Z")
I find the night sky incredibly peaceful. I love to sit in a hot tub on a cold winter’s night and stare at it. ---
**Author:** ![ErinPuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-get-a-kind-of-frightened-feeling-while-gazing-up-at-the-night-sky/325469/34 "2005-10-10T21:48:29Z")
Space in general freaks me out. I was obsessed with the solar system in second or third grade, but sometime after that, the idea started to be scary. I am so ridiculously unimportant and little. ---
**Author:** ![Plynck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-get-a-kind-of-frightened-feeling-while-gazing-up-at-the-night-sky/325469/35 "2005-10-10T22:19:38Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Just a sense of awe looking up while waiting for Laddie to poop. Yeah, but after he does make sure to bring your focus back down to Earth. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2005, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-get-a-kind-of-frightened-feeling-while-gazing-up-at-the-night-sky/325469/36 "2005-10-11T22:58:29Z")
If you face the east, and look at the North star, then lean sloooowly backwards, you can eventually see Uranus, if you are limber enough. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-get-a-kind-of-frightened-feeling-while-gazing-up-at-the-night-sky/325469/37 "2005-10-12T00:25:13Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > When I used to walk our dog late at night (as a kid), I’d look up at the vast night sky over the houses and think “Wow, that’s big” So, no, I never got frightened. Just a sense of awe looking up while waiting for Laddie to poop. Ah, so that explains why so many people walking their dogs fail to pick up their dog doo, they are so awed by the night sky they don’t even realize that their puppy has pooped. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-get-a-kind-of-frightened-feeling-while-gazing-up-at-the-night-sky/325469/38 "2005-10-12T11:04:21Z")
> [@pseudotriton ruber ruber](#): > > When I behold, upon the night’s starred face, huge cloudy symbols of a high romance, and think that I may never live to trace their shadows with the magic hand of chance…then on the shore of the wide world, I stand alone and think 'til love and fame to nothingness do sink. If anybody cares, I was quoting from (rendering in prose, actually) John Keats’ sonnet “When I have fears that I may cease to be”–don’t want anyone to think I’m claiming that (though I wish I cold get the credit for it.) Or did you think I wrote in in rhyming, iambic prose? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-get-a-kind-of-frightened-feeling-while-gazing-up-at-the-night-sky/325469/39 "2005-10-12T11:22:54Z")
> [@pseudotriton ruber ruber](#): > > Or did you think I wrote in in rhyming, iambic prose? Well, actually … 😛 ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-get-a-kind-of-frightened-feeling-while-gazing-up-at-the-night-sky/325469/40 "2005-10-12T15:56:52Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > I used to, but not anymore. > > My fear was a kind of ‘reverse acrophobia’ or something: I imagined the stars and the moon just _hanging there_, out in space, with nothing to keep them from falling. The notion of falling that far kind of sent chills down my spine, but it doesn’t bother me anymore. > > I’m still pretty acrophobic, but I don’t feel disturbed by the moon and stars anymore. In fact, I really enjoy walking alone at night during a full moon. (One of the perks of living out in the country is that you don’t get mugged doing that.) I believe the term you are looking for is “Astrophobia” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-get-a-kind-of-frightened-feeling-while-gazing-up-at-the-night-sky/325469.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-get-a-kind-of-frightened-feeling-while-gazing-up-at-the-night-sky/325469.md?page=3)