After 400 years, Some of Us Still Get it Wrong: Science Errors on TV (A Personal Experience)

Students harbor misconceptions (deep-seated incorrect beliefs) about our astronomical environment. While some of these beliefs have their origins in faulty reasoning, many others come from external sources, including from teachers and even professional scientists believing and sharing misconceptions, and from media sources. I will relate a horror story of how scientists on a TV show about the Moon in which I appeared presented incorrect information and how the producers also manipulated the science presented by the narrator to provide incorrect information that viewers are likely to incorporate into their own belief systems.