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Science

Science communicator baffles millions with this optical illusion of the Earth

Our first impressions aren’t always right.

optical illusions, massimo, space

A photo of Earth taken from space

A popular science communicator named Massimo shared an optical illusion on Twitter on April 4, and the baffling image earned over 4.4 million views. At first, the photograph looks like the Earth, set against a starry night sky.

It’s reminiscent of the Universal Pictures logo or a shot that one would see in a “Star Wars” film right before two ships go speeding by while blasting each other with laser fire. However, the Earth in the photo is not a planet, and the stars in the night sky aren’t stars at all.


“This photo is (another) example of how optical illusions mess with your mind,” Massimo captioned the photo. “First you see a picture of the Earth from space and then…”

"Then what?" Meningloos tweeted

"A cityscape," Christopher Kyle Fletcher responded.

If you are reading this on a smartphone and you rotate it, you'll notice that what looked like stars is a skyline with a few tall buildings. What appeared to be the Earth is actually clouds sometime around sunset or sunrise.

Meg0365 corrected the photo, and it all makes sense.

The tweet is a compelling example of how our minds can play tricks on us and that our first impression of something may be incorrect.

“This highlights the two different processing speeds of the brain, a 'quick' answer is thrown out as soon as possible, a slower but more accurate answer is presented once the brain has performed more comparisons and details. Some go through life only accepting the quick responses,” Colin Angus wrote.


Our home, from space.

Sixty-one years ago, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to make it into space and probably the first to experience what scientists now call the "overview effect." This change occurs when people see the world from far above and notice that it’s a place where “borders are invisible, where racial, religious and economic strife are nowhere to be seen.”

The overview effect makes man’s squabbles with one another seem incredibly petty and presents the planet as it truly is, one interconnected organism.

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People who have a lot of children often know their bodies and sense how quickly their babies might come, so they try to make it to the hospital before things get interesting. A couple in Florida who were expecting their sixth child attempted to head to the hospital before the baby arrived, but the baby had other plans.

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Then one day, you look up and wonder, where did my life go?

The big problem is that people can become so wrapped up in their identities as parents that when their children grow older and leave the house, they have no sense of self. Amy Morin, LCSW, says that this can lead to feelings of loss, loneliness, distress and conflicts with their partners.

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