The universe has a lot of misconceptions and sometimes when you are in the middle of an argument, you could say something that you think is right whereas it is wrong from all angles but since you do not know the right from the wrong answer.
An instance of such misconception is that the brightest star is the Polaris star also known as the north star. A lot of people believe this because it was used for navigation for centuries in the early days and so if it is not the brightest star, then it should be amongst the top ten stars. First, Polaris isn't one star, it is three stars in one system but due to its far distance, the star blurs into one when viewed without a telescope. Actually, it is at number 48 in the ranking of bright stars compared to Sirius which is the brightest star (there is also more than one star in the sirius system with one regular star and one white dwarf star which is the left over core of a dead star).
People also think that the sun is a hot bulb of fire and I do not blame them for thinking so, even scientists thought so up through the 1800s when they realized it was not a bulb of fire burning. Actually the chemical reaction of the sun is a nuclear reaction which has to do with the smashing of atoms under intense pressure and heat so as to release energy and heat.
Another argument that you can delve into and claim you know something about when you don't is the presence of water in space. There is a believe that water is rare in space but this isn't true. The most abundant element in the universe is hydrogen and oxygen is the third most common element so finding them in space, so finding water in space is very possible. Water ice has been spotted on mercury which is the planet closest to the sun. Water vapor has also been found in interstellar cloud and atmospheres outside our solar system but finding liquid water is a big deal for scientists.
You must have been told that the earth orbit the sun or all the planet orbit the sun. In reality, that bold statement you learned from your elementary science teacher isn't true and this is because all the planets including the sun orbit around a point in space known as the barycenter.
You were told that the closest planet to earth is venus and as at now you might be right but if you are to look at the closest planet to earth around March 8th, and August 1st 2025, it would be mercury and this is because the planet never lines in a row rather all the planet orbits the sun at different rate but the distance between the earth and any other planet is always changing. In fact, Mars was closest to Earth on January 12, 2025 which means
Reference
https://science.howstuffworks.com/north-star.htm)
https://aasnova.org/2017/05/17/measuring-sirius-an-exercise-in-patience
https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/General_Chemistry/Ma
https://www.jagranjosh.com/general-knowledge/mars-at-opposition-2025
https://earthsky.org/tonight/mercury-after-sunset-greatest-elongation-east
https://explainingscience.org/2020/09/25/the-changing-pole-star/
https://sci.esa.int/web/hubble/-/38421-the-dog-star-sirius-a-and-its-white-dwarf-companion
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/water-ice-mercury/
https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-may-have-learned-how-earth-got-its-water/
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13310/
https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Nuclear_fusion_in_the_Sun
https://starwalk.space/en/news/astronomy-calendar-2025
https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/why-is-mars-sometimes-bright-and-sometimes-faint/
https://www.earth.com/news/march-2025-stargazing-a-red-moon-and-a-vanishing-planet/
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Your text seems truncated.
Your sentence about the barycenter is a bit misleading. In fact each pair or system of orbiting bodies has its own unique barycenter, there is not one for all planets.
When I mentioned all planets, the sun, and the barycenter, I was referring to our solar system which also has a barycenter.
https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/barycenter/
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