Trying to get over my fear of the night sky!!!!

[Weston2688]

So Iv decided to join stargazers to get over my fear of the night sky... This may sound silly to you all but I litrally can't look up at the sky it makes me have awful panic attacks... When I look up and see really big starts its makes me feel so sick I worry so much when I see a huge star that looks to big thinking it's coming straigh for us! Please don't laugh but this really is something that upsets me and needs to be felt with because it's getting worse. So over the past few nights Iv noticed a huge star biggest Iv ever seen and Iv no idea what it is so as U can imagine I'm in panic mode lol... Please help

[Weston2688]

Please excuse the spelling mistakes I posted it without reading it again my silly iPad has a mind of its own!!

[dweller25]

The very bright star in the west is Venus - it orbits the sun as we do so and is 260 million Km from us - it's been there for 4.6 billion years and will stay there for many more millions of years.

The very bright star in the south is Jupiter - it also orbits the sun as we do and is even further away at 588 million Km - it will be staying well away from us too.

The closest star to us is Alpha Centauri (after the Sun) - it's 4.4 light years away so we are safe from that too.

You can relax, the night sky represents no danger and can show stunning sights on most nights.

[davedownsouth]

If it was early in the evening, it was probably Venus, so don't worry about it .  If it was past 9pm, it was probably Jupiter, so again, do not worry about it.  Get a scope / binoculars and then see how big they look.  NB  Welcome to the forum .

[Kriss Craik]

Welcome, you're doing the right thing. Educating yourself about your fear is the first step. must admit I've never thought about the night sky in that way before but get your point. I'm less inclined to be fearful about the object hurling towards earth and more about how insignificant and yet significant 1 individual is when compared to the vastness of it all. The scale of everything is just so difficult to get your head around. 1 thing you will notice on embarking on this journey is how predictable it all is. Sun goes down, stars come out and up and over they go. Nothing hurting towards you. Although I did see to meteors on my last outing and in context it's like free fireworks

[northcanadian]

That is unfortunate and I hope the best for you!

I have have been an SGL member for about 7 years now...when I first started in this wonderful hobby.  For me I almost feel a 'communion' when observing and imaging the moon and planets....inexplicably somehow a feeling of being in church, without actually being in church (if that makes sense).  Hope you get that calmness too

Cheers

Roger

[Weston2688]

I have no idea why the night sky worrys me so much it's only a fear that's has came on over the past couple of years but seems to have got worse. Before this I loved everything about planets ect. I did think it's was Venus as after I noticed it about a week ago I looked into what it was... A certain person I no got so into the 2012 end of the world rubbish and went on and on about it and it freaked me out that much so I think that is where my fear came from even though I knew it wasn't going to happen it still has left a awful effect on me but hopefully SGL will help

[starlogborg]

Weston,

Welcome to the forums, and good on you for trying to face up to your fears!  

As others mentioned, you were probably seeing the planet Venus.  The planets are tightly locked into their orbits around the Sun, and there's no way one of them will suddenly start flying right towards Earth. The stars are a lot farther away than the planets.  Light is the fastest thing in the Universe, and most stars are so far away, it takes hundreds or even thousands of years for their light to reach Earth so we can see them as stars at night.  Even if one were to suddenly change course and come barreling right towards us, we would have thousands of years to figure out a plan to either push it out of the way, or recolonize another planet.  So when you look up at night, try to enjoy their beauty.

[Weston2688]

And to answer your question Davedownsouth it was early evening

[Weston2688]

I got this certified app on my phone the other night that is highly rated. And if you point your iPhone towards the sky it wil litrally tell me every star I was fairly impressed but the only problem was the one star that has been worrying me didn't show which you can imagine made me feel sick!!! Silly I no

[ToxoLight]

Hi Weston. and welcome to the lounge, I wish you every success in overcoming your fear, knowledge is the key to enjoying the night sky and you will find a wealth of that hear.

[davedownsouth]

And to answer your question Davedownsouth it was early evening

[carastro]

This is the trouble with phobia's many of them are irrational, but GENUINE fears to the sufferer.  

I hope you manage to overcome your fear and get to enjoy the night sky.

Carole 

[Weston2688]

I can safely say I hate flying too... And the same I don't mind landing either

[Pete Presland]

Hi welcome to SGL from Pete in Bedfordshire

[Rocket_the_Raccoon]

Welcome and agrees with many others pointing out "knowledge is power to overcome fears"...wish you all the best on your journey to the success of overcoming your fears!

[Ant]

Welcome to SGL,

I am sorry to hear that the night sky fills you with dread. I can only agree with the comments about and hope that facing your fear might help. It would certainly be a shame if you couldn't look at the night sky and its beauty because of your fear.

But fears are irrational, and don't always go away with knowledge and logic. Myself, I'm scared of Spiders. In the UK the fear is completely irrational, there are no spiders that can hurt or kill me (with the exception of a few new arrivals in the south). But it doesn't matter how much logic I throw at the fear it doesn't go away.

I am usually very brave when in a different room to a spider and I can work out a plan to (utterly destroy) remove the spider. But once I see it I am almost a paralysed with fear. It really is a stupid fear, but not much I can do about it.

I hope that you can overcome your fear and enjoy the night sky again.

Cheers

Ant

[swag72]

Hi and welcome to SGL. Echoing other peoples posts, it is the best way to confront a fear...... Head on so to speak. I wish you luck and hope that you can start to look upwards with a little more calm and tranquility.

[xtreemchaos]

hi mate and welcome from south wales.

[Macavity]

Although mostly steady indoors, I do have a tendancy to dizziness and loss of balance

while gazing at the zenith and beyond. I often keep "finger" on the telescope / tripod!

I can empathise though. Sometimes large (featureless) open spaces can induce a

modest panic attack here! Supermarket foyers can be a "white knuckle ride" for me. 

But a known design issue? And I now take a shopping trolley like everyone else...

For those intrigued by such feelings. If you visit Oxford you might try (Google Map link):

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Sa%C3%AFd+Business+School/@51.752905,-1.268129,3a,75y,335.02h,90t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sDE77gkDwhB5Zb__fyA0M7Q!2e0!4m2!3m1!1s0x0000000000000000:0x6ba583859db1833a!6m1!1e1?hl=en

The "Said Business School" entrance! As you leave the station to walk to the centre... 

This wide, flat, white, pavement... then, all of a sudden this huge "void" to your left. 

(Self knowledge helps? And intrigued to hear from anyone who tries this experiment!)

[Vox45]

Hello and welcome to the forum

Clear skies !

[SteveA]

Welcome to the forum.

I wish you good luck in trying to come to terms with and overcoming your fears..

[glowjet]

Hi Weston and welcome to SGL, I wish you the best of luck with your problem, if the forum can be of any assistance, just ask in the appropriate sub section. You may find there are some who have small problems associated with observing, I myself now find it difficult to view near the Zenith, without loosing my balance. But cheer up, there may be a solution just round the corner

[Bizibilder]

Hello Weston and welcome to SGL!!

[purdo]

Hi Weston & Welcome to SGL.  Hope you can overcome your fear.  Have you tried going out and looking at the night sky with some friends or go along to an observation night where people there would be able to point out various stars, planets etc.  Just a thought.