If you are staring into space, you are looking straight in front of you, without actually looking at anything in particular, for example because you are thinking or because you are feeling shocked.

What is staring off into space called?

An absence seizure causes you to blank out or stare into space for a few seconds. They can also be called petit mal seizures.

Is staring off into space a idiom?

To stare vacantly or absentmindedly at nothing in particular, usually while one is preoccupied with or distracted by thoughts of something else. I sat at the back of class, staring off into space, when suddenly the solution came to me.