Flat Earth Movement - What Gives?

[Green Shirt]

Please help me, this Flat Earth Movement is beginning to get into my head. I've loved the space program and NASA since I was 7 years old during the Gemini missions. Heck, even my father worked at Martin-Marietta and Goddard Space Flight Center from the 60s to the 80s. The flat earthers make a convincing argument for their belief. Help pull me back before I turn to the dark side.

 

[teacake]

A convincing argument?

uhh..

 

[Green Shirt]

Semi convincing?

 

[Timelord Victorious]

You're kidding right?

On the off chance, you are not, well...

 

[scotpens]

I'm convinced that 99 percent of New Flat Earthers are intentionally trolling. The other 1 percent have the mental capacity of a tree stump.

 

[sojourner]

If the Earth is flat how do you explain mountains and canyons? Huh? huh? You can't explain that!

 

[MacLeod]

I'm convinced that 99 percent of New Flat Earthers are intentionally trolling. The other 1 percent have the mental capacity of a tree stump.

Are you sure that's not the other way around?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I'm convinced that ... New Flat Earthers are intentionally trolling ... have the mental capacity of a tree stump.

Fixed that for ya

 

[Avro Arrow]

I honestly thought the whole thing was basically a joke, and no one actually *believed* the Earth was really flat.

Granted, I've spent a total of 0 minutes researching the actual beliefs of the Flat Earthers, so it's possible I'm giving them way too much credit.

 

[teacake]

If the Earth is flat how do you explain mountains and canyons? Huh? huh? You can't explain that!

 

[Mr Soak]

If the Earth is flat how do you explain mountains and canyons? Huh? huh? You can't explain that!

Of course Earth is as flat as a pancake. Mountains and canyons are simply the result of the Great Sky Pancake Muncher getting ready to shove earth in its gob.

 

[Australis]

I honestly thought the whole thing was basically a joke, and no one actually *believed* the Earth was really flat.

A guy I used to work with said the same thing. He finally got it when they began to get really angry at him. Would I be correct in assuming a lot of them are Americans who haven't travelled far?

Okay.

Short answer is: go up in a jet, the higher the better. You will see the curve of the Earth. Virgin Space will be your friend in the future.

Can't afford it? A starting place is a doco I watched recently was 'James May On The Moon'. The Top Gear guy is mostly talking about the Apollo missions, but he also gets to go through some astronaut training, and ends up wangling a flight in a U2. In the video, you can see a jet as far below them as the jet is above us, and at that high, you can see the sky above is black, and yes, the horizon curves, not like a plate but like a ball.

There is probably U2 and SR71 Blackbird footage on YT, I haven't bothered to look, some homework for you.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

^ X-15 footage, which flew much higher, is more likely to be avaiable than from the SR71.

Pictures taken from high altitude aeroplanes, rockets, balloons, satellites, and the ISS, the necessity for time zones, Xmas being in summer in Australia, ships disappearing over the horizon, shadow of the Earth on the Moon, different star constellations visible in Australia, length of the day and Sun's elevation differ from place to place on the same day, elevation of α Ursae Minoris (Polaris) varies from place to place and is not visible from Australia, the Moon looking inverted in pictures taken from Australia, the pull of gravity would vary greatly over a flat plate and not be straight down except at the centre of the plate...

http://www.popsci.com/10-ways-you-can-prove-earth-is-round

 

[Gary 11's]

I think they've been reading too much Pratchett. I'd love to see a diagram.

 

[Relayer1]

X-15 footage...Pictures taken from high altitude aeroplanes, rockets, balloons, satellites, and the ISS, the necessity for time zones, Xmas being in summer in Australia, ships disappearing over the horizon, shadow of the Earth on the Moon, different star constellations visible in Australia, length of the day and Sun's elevation differ from place to place on the same day, elevation of α Ursae Minoris (Polaris) varies from place to place and is not visible from Australia, the Moon looking inverted in pictures taken from Australia, the pull of gravity would vary greatly over a flat plate and not be straight down except at the centre of the plate

Nothing conclusive then ?

 

[Australis]

The Red Bull guy jumping out of a high altitude balloon?

 

[Retu]

A pair of good binoculars and a trip to the nearest harbor should be enough of a proof.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

I'm convinced that 99 percent of New Flat Earthers are intentionally trolling. The other 1 percent have the mental capacity of a tree stump.

Don't you people see the obvious? It's all there. It's all connected!

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Please help me, this Flat Earth Movement is beginning to get into my head. I've loved the space program and NASA since I was 7 years old during the Gemini missions. Heck, even my father worked at Martin-Marietta and Goddard Space Flight Center from the 60s to the 80s. The flat earthers make a convincing argument for their belief. Help pull me back before I turn to the dark side.

I'm kind of doubtful there's anything that can be said to convince you if you're willing to take the word of some flat-earther nuts on the internet over 2,600 years of scientific observation and mathematical calculation since the ancient Greeks, your own dad's experiences with the space program, or pictures from the Gemini missions you loved so much... but here goes:



If you have a coastline and a port nearby, (as suggested above) on a clear day head down to the beach and focus on distant ships on the horizon coming and going, and you can see the masts, superstructure, and decks seemingly rise up out of the water or sink down below it because of the curvature of the Earth. Watching fishing and trading vessels vanish over the horizon or suddenly appear there was how the Greeks first determined that the Earth was round (it's actually an oblate spheroid, as first noted by Sir Isaac Newton, but close enough):



If there's an inhabited island some distance off the shore, or a very wide channel or bay with buildings on the other side, the buildings will seemingly be missing their lower level(s) because they are concealed by the curvature of the Earth:



If you look at the Moon during a full lunar eclipse, you can see the curvature of the Earth as Earth's shadow passes across the Moon's surface. This was how the Greek's calculated the size of the Earth to a great deal of accuracy by measuring the curvature of the edge of the shadow:

 

[Relayer1]

^ Pretty flimsy isn't it ?