# 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:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-get-a-kind-of-frightened-feeling-while-gazing-up-at-the-night-sky/325469/41 "2005-10-12T16:20:54Z")
Every once in a while I get a little nervous about the fact that there’s just a few kilometers of air between me and the icy blackness of space. And the atmosphere is just held in place by gravity. That’s it. We spend our whole lives running around in this tenuous onion-skin of an ecosystem, with a whole gigantic empty inhospitable Universe out there, and ultimately all that’s standing between us and falling endlessly though an airless void is g=9.8 m/s[sup]2[/sup]. Gives me the shivers. ---
**Author:** ![YaWanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/bbce88/32.png) [@YaWanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YaWanna)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-get-a-kind-of-frightened-feeling-while-gazing-up-at-the-night-sky/325469/42 "2005-10-12T17:52:08Z")
> [@Podkayne](#): > > Every once in a while I get a little nervous about the fact that there’s just a few kilometers of air between me and the icy blackness of space. > > And the atmosphere is just held in place by gravity. That’s it. > > We spend our whole lives running around in this tenuous onion-skin of an ecosystem, with a whole gigantic empty inhospitable Universe out there, and ultimately all that’s standing between us and falling endlessly though an airless void is g=9.8 m/s[sup]2[/sup]. Gives me the shivers. Well, thanks. Thanks a whole hell of a lot. ---
**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 12, 2005, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-get-a-kind-of-frightened-feeling-while-gazing-up-at-the-night-sky/325469/43 "2005-10-12T17:57:37Z")
> [@](#): > > Quote: > Originally Posted by Podkayne > Every once in a while I get a little nervous about the fact that there’s just a few kilometers of air between me and the icy blackness of space. > > And the atmosphere is just held in place by gravity. That’s it. > > We spend our whole lives running around in this tenuous onion-skin of an ecosystem, with a whole gigantic empty inhospitable Universe out there, and ultimately all that’s standing between us and falling endlessly though an airless void is g=9.8 m/s2. Gives me the shivers. > > Well, thanks. Thanks a whole hell of a lot. And now, just to make your fun complete: _Don’t_ think about your tongue and where it is. … ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-get-a-kind-of-frightened-feeling-while-gazing-up-at-the-night-sky/325469/44 "2005-10-12T18:54:15Z")
I’ve been interested in astronomy since I was young. I love star gazing and looking through telescopes. And I have an aptitude for math, and science. But I have made a conscious decision to avoid studying the science of astronomy because the concept of infinity, both as distance and as time, makes me want to curl up in a little ball and have someone tell me it will all be okay. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-get-a-kind-of-frightened-feeling-while-gazing-up-at-the-night-sky/325469/45 "2005-10-12T21:40:48Z")
> [@Podkayne](#): > > And the atmosphere is just held in place by gravity. That’s it. > > Gives me the shivers. Gravity is probably a lot more dependable than the nut coming toward you at a closing speed of 140 mph on a two lane highway. > [@OtakuLoki](#): > > But I have made a conscious decision to avoid studying the science of astronomy because the concept of infinity, both as distance and as time, makes me want to curl up in a little ball and have someone tell me it will all be okay. Well, in the long run everything won’t be OK, depending upon how you define OK. However infinity isn’t the problem and if you spend any time worrying about it that’s time you don’t have to spend on the real problems, like the current US chief executive. ---
**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 12, 2005, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-get-a-kind-of-frightened-feeling-while-gazing-up-at-the-night-sky/325469/46 "2005-10-12T21:57:28Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > I’ve been interested in astronomy since I was young. I love star gazing and looking through telescopes. And I have an aptitude for math, and science. > > But I have made a conscious decision to avoid studying the science of astronomy because the concept of infinity, both as distance and as time, makes me want to curl up in a little ball and have someone tell me it will all be okay. :eek: People who are just interested in astronomy probably spend more time thinking about the concept of infinity than actual astronomers do. We’re too busy with mundane stuff like writing grant proposals and getting our computer codes to work. The only thing in my study of astronomy that made me curl up in a little ball was the Physics GRE. I curled up in a ball and hid under a table. Come to think of it, that was fairly good preparation for grad school- I moved to California, and I understand that you’re supposed to do much the same thing in the event of a major earthquake. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-get-a-kind-of-frightened-feeling-while-gazing-up-at-the-night-sky/325469/47 "2005-10-13T00:05:00Z")
> [@David Simmons](#): > > Gravity is probably a lot more dependable than the nut coming toward you at a closing speed of 140 mph on a two lane highway. Yeah, but I’d still feel better if there was a Tupperware seal up there somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![PastAllReason](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@PastAllReason](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastAllReason)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-get-a-kind-of-frightened-feeling-while-gazing-up-at-the-night-sky/325469/48 "2005-10-13T00:37:24Z")
No fear for me. Instead, it inspires a sense of awe and eternity, which to me aren’t bad things at all. Of course I also liked _Ozymandias_. Which had no ice weasels at all. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-get-a-kind-of-frightened-feeling-while-gazing-up-at-the-night-sky/325469/49 "2005-10-13T01:06:07Z")
Nope. Typically if I find myself very far from light pollution and am alone and the evening is very quiet, and the stark landscape is barely lit by a quarter-moon casting it’s meagre light over the snow I stop in my bitter cold tracks and lean back and stare straight up at the billions of stars staring down at me and scream What the fuck are **you** looking at??? Then I walk off smiling to myself and make a nice cup of hot sassafrass root tea. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-get-a-kind-of-frightened-feeling-while-gazing-up-at-the-night-sky/325469/50 "2005-10-13T01:07:29Z")
> [@Podkayne](#): > > Yeah, but I’d still feel better if there was a Tupperware seal up there somewhere. Would you feed it Tupperware sardines? ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-get-a-kind-of-frightened-feeling-while-gazing-up-at-the-night-sky/325469/51 "2005-10-13T01:58:45Z")
> [@David Simmons](#): > > Well, in the long run everything won’t be OK, depending upon how you define OK. However infinity isn’t the problem and if you spend any time worrying about it that’s time you don’t have to spend on the real problems, like the current US chief executive. Ahhh… Silly me. I should have realized. Real problems are the only things that are allowed to bother people. Irrational fears shouldn’t even be talked about, certainly not in a thread about other, related irrational fears. Thank you so much for making that clear. Yanno, if you want to bash Shrub, there are plenty of threads in The Pit, GD, and IMHO for that. Some of them, it would even be on topic. **Anne Neville** , I’m sure you’re right. On the other hand, you had to get through whole courses where you had to think rationally and coherently about time frames that push my mind in ways I prefer to take at my own pace, instead in a timely manner. (Which seems a bit improper, since we’re talking about billions and billions of stars over billions and billions of years. 😃 ) ---
**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 13, 2005, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-get-a-kind-of-frightened-feeling-while-gazing-up-at-the-night-sky/325469/52 "2005-10-13T02:37:19Z")
> [@pseudotriton ruber ruber](#): > > 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? I thought I recognized Keats. I had that memorized once upon a time but my memory she’s not so good anymore. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-get-a-kind-of-frightened-feeling-while-gazing-up-at-the-night-sky/325469/53 "2005-10-13T03:45:46Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > Ahhh… > Silly me. I should have realized. Real problems are the only things that are allowed to bother people. Irrational fears shouldn’t even be talked about, certainly not in a thread about other, related irrational fears. Thank you so much for making that clear. You are right. I shouldn’t have wasted my time and yours on irrational fears for which I have little time anyway. [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=2)