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Flat Earth Debate / Re: Polaris

« on: April 30, 2007, 09:09:40 PM »

Polaris CAN NOT BE SEEN from points SOUTH of the EQUATOR!!!

Do you have proof for this presumption? Can you back up your claim with observations?

In his excursions, Dr. Samuel Birley Rowbotham reports that on the 23rd of January 1862 the Pole Star was seen from a part of the earth 23 ¹/₂ degrees beyond the equator.

Unless you have anything more than a frivolous model or assumptions, I'm more inclined to believe personal observations and statements from a man who has spent his life studying the shape of the earth.

You'd think if Polaris was viewable from the Southern hemisphere one of the several billion people living down there would have noticed it by now...

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Flat Earth Debate / Re: Polaris

« on: April 29, 2007, 09:15:43 AM »

Yeah I'm starting to think this site is fake.  No way anyone could actually believe this crap.

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Flat Earth Debate / Re: The visibile Sun and seasons?

« on: April 29, 2007, 09:14:51 AM »

Yeah but what I really want to get explained is how since on the equinoxes the sun circles above the equator, therefore it is always the same distance from the north pole on the equinox, it can get 12 hours or sun and 12 hours of night, plus as I've shown with their model, certain areas should receive 24 hours of sun, as I've shown how far the sun should have to be away to disappear, assuming a point on the equator gets 12 hours of night on the equinox.

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Flat Earth Debate / Re: The visibile Sun and seasons?

« on: April 29, 2007, 08:50:28 AM »

As far as I can tell, that explains nothing on why the North Pole does not receive 24 hours of sunlight on the equinoxes.

The sun will always be the same distance from the North pole, so why does at some time it receives sunlight and sometime it doesn't?

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Flat Earth Debate / Re: Polaris

« on: April 29, 2007, 08:40:39 AM »

Unfortunately Tom, not all of us have access to the book. So perhaps you could explain it for us, or are you incapable?

I read this in "Earth Not a Globe" and it doesn't explain anything.  It does not explain why the angle approaches zero at the equator (when it shouldn't, as I've shown why in my first post), and why the angle we view it at is EXACTLY equal to our position North latitude.  The fact is the angle we can view Polaris at is completely inconsistent with what we should see it at under a "Flat Earth".\

Maybe I would give you guys more credit if you would actually support your beliefs with evidence rather than pointing to some text written 150 years ago.

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Flat Earth Debate / The visibile Sun and seasons?

« on: April 28, 2007, 04:01:51 PM »

I've read the FAQ to see how you explain seasons, and you say the radius of the Sun's orbit changes throughout the year.  So I assume then at the equinoxes is orbits directly above the equator.  Then at the equinox every point on the Earth receives an equal 12 hours of sunlight on the equinox.  So let's consider a point on the equator.  Clearly on this day then, using your model, one would assume the Sun would be visible for the 12 hours it is closest to this point, and not visible when it is 12 hours away from this point.  Since your model's diameter is 29,000 miles, the diameter of the circle formed by the equator would be 14,500 miles, so the radius is 7,250 miles.  Then doing a simple calculation, the point where the sun "sets" at our hypothetical point on the equator would be:

sqrt(2 * 7250^2) = 10,253 miles away on the ground

Then since you assume the Earth is flat, the Sun would always have to set when it is directly above a point that is 10,253 miles away on the ground.  Clearly then, any point that is less than (10,253 - 7250 = 3003) miles away from the north pole should receive 24 hours of sunlight on the equinox, since the sun would never be directly above a point more than 12,253 miles away from the point we are considering.

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Flat Earth Debate / Polaris

« on: April 27, 2007, 10:27:15 PM »

I'd like to hear someone attempt to explain Polaris.

Since it's positioned (approximately) exactly above the North Pole, according to your FAQ, it should be viewable from the extreme southern point of  your flat Earth model with an angle of 12.45 degrees above the horizon:

tan-1(3000/12450) = 12.45

Using the same calculation, it should be viewable from the equator with an angle of

tan-1(3000/6225) = 25.73 degrees above the horizon

Both of which are clearly false.  Polaris is not viewable at all from the Southern Hemisphere

Also, the angle from the Horizon to the North Star using a Round Earth is exactly equal to your latitude.  Thus, myself at approximately 42 deg. N latitude can view Polaris at an angle of 42 degrees above the Horizon.  Additionally, as you approach the equator, the angle of Polaris to the horizon will approach and eventually reach 0 degrees at the equator, which shouldn't happen in your model.

Explain away...