I was about 30 years old when I talked to my mother about some program on TV about astronomy when she mentioned that our sun is a star. It's like all the other stars we see during the night, it's just closer to us so it appears bigger. My mind was blown. I didn't understand how I could have lived for 30 years and never thought this thought.
Yesterday me and our 10 years old were talking about the universe and things in it, and I mentioned to her that our sun is just a star like all the other ones we see during the night. I saw that her mind was as blown as mine was back when my mom told me this fact.
Actually even in the song "Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are." it encourages us to think about this fact, but it took me 30 years to do so.
That’s a relatively modern understanding too.
Well, depending. :)