Flat Earther's Guide to Self Deprogramming at Home: PT1
Tuesday, November 22nd, 2022 04:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snoozefestaudioWelcome to, FLAT EARTHER'S GUIDE TO SELF DEPROGRAMMING AT HOME: Debunking the Flat Earth Model by making eyeball-only observations, from ground level, at home!
Whether you're a religious person who doesn't trust the academic agenda, an astrologist fighting against the scientific patriarchy, or just an honest skeptic who seeks the truth for themselves... the Spherical Earth Model can seem a bit ridiculous!
If the only way to prove the Earth is a Sphere is to launch yourself into orbit, or fly to Australia, sail to Antarctica, purchase insanely expensive instruments, or... just take everybody's word for it... Well!.. then it's probably just bullshit!
But what if I were to tell you that it's possible to prove the Shperical Earth Model from home... without a single instrument other than your eyes?
Don't believe me?.. well, you don't have to! Because I'm gonna tell you how you can prove it to yourself!
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NOTE: In the analysis to follow, we will assume you live in North America!
These instructions will also work for anybody in Europe or Northern Asia, but since most Flat Earthers live in The United States or Canada... we're going to presume you're in North America.
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STEP ONE: THE STARS
Unless you live in the heart of a huge city with tall buildings and tons of light pollution, you should be able to see the stars well enough for our purposes... if you live in a small town or suburb... provided it's a clear night, with no haze!
You need to find a convenient observation spot, where you can see the overhead sky, relatively unobstructed by trees or tall structures, and locate the constellation known as The Big Dipper.
The Big Dipper is a large, obvious constellation of fairly bright stars that is visible any night of the year in North America... again, provided the sky is clear, with no haze.
It's comprised of seven stars... three, forming a crooked pan handle, and four more in a trapezoid formation, forming the pan itself. It's not directly overhead... but it will be high in the sky, if you face north.
Once you've located the Big Dipper, look at the two stars forming the leading edge of that trapezoidal box of the pan. Form a mental line connecting those two stars on the leading edge of the pan, and follow that line up... to another bright star several degrees above them.
That star, is Polaris!
Again, Polaris should be easily visible, even in small towns and suburbs, on any clear night after dark... just above the leading edge of The Big Dipper's pan.
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Take note of where you are standing... say... third square of the sidewalk from the driveway? If necessary, mark the spot with a rock... or pace it out from two nearby landmarks, like the maple tree and the grill.
Pinpoint this obeservation spot... and while standing at it... take note of where Polaris is in the sky.
For me, it's about ten degrees above the top of my neighbor's chimney. Maybe for you it's twenty degrees above a distant water tower. But take note of where Polaris is in the sky... how high you have to tilt your head... etc... from that observation spot.
Voice record it or write it down if you want.
The point is... every time you stand in that spot, after dark, on a clear night... you will see Polaris in the exact same spot in the sky.
It doesn't matter what time of night you look! It doesn't matter what time of year you look! From dark to dawn... Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall... this year... next year, and 100 years from now...
Polaris will be in that same point in the sky... as viewed from that same observation spot!
So... check this as many times as you like, over the course of a year! Prove it to yourself! Don't take my word for it!
But it's a fact that Polaris does not move!
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And from this, you can make your first logical deduction... that Polaris is in that same spot... DURING THE DAY, TOO!
Go to your observation spot during the day... look to where polaris should be. You won't see it, of course... because the sky is too bright and blue. But... you can be certain that Polaris IS still there!
And if you doubt that, you can monitor this spot at sunset... and watch as it slowly becomes visible after nightfall. You can monitor at sunrise... and watch as it slowly becomes IN-visible as dawn breaks.
Polaris has object permanence, and remains there... even when it is obscured by sunlight.
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Once you are satisfied that Polaris does not move, and also has object permanence... meaning it's there in the daytime as well as at night... it's time to take note again of that Big Dipper constellation.
After some observations, you should notice that The Big Dipper is also... visible year round... but that it's orientation in the sky, relative to Polaris will be different, depending on the time of night you view it!
If you check the orientation of The Big Dipper every three hours, for example, on the same night... you'll note that it's moving counter-clockwise around Polaris!
If you imagine that crooked pan handle of the constellation as being the hour hand on a clock... it slowly moves counter-clockwise over the course of a night.
You won't see that pan handle do a full circuit around Polaris in a single night... but it WILL move at a constant speed, of about 30 degrees of arc per hour!
In other words, it will move exactly twice as slow as an hour hand on a normal clock, and it will move counter-clockwise, instead of clockwise.
But from that, you'll be able to deduce that it takes The Big Dipper, 24 hours to do one complete circuit around Polaris!
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But it's not just The Big Dipper!.. All the stars in that region of the sky... known as the circumpolar stars... rotate around Polaris at that same speed of one full circuit in 24 hours.
Thus, you can make your second logical deduction... that The Big Dipper, and all other circumpolar stars are also THERE... circling around Polaris... even in the daytime!
You can even calculate where the unseen pan handle should be pointing, at a given time of day, when the sky is bright and blue... and predict where it should be pointing tonight, an hour after sunset!
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If you begin to observe stars outside the circumpolar region... ones further down toward the horizon... you will see that these ones appear to rise in the east, and set in the west... but that THEY TOO... are all moving around Polaris... at the same speed of one full circuit in 24 hours!
For stars far from Polaris, this DOES mean, that they must cover a lot more arc of sky in an hour, than the circumpolar stars.
This is similar to how, a record on a turn table will spin more slowly near the center, and the spindle... and spin much more quickly out at the edge.
All stars... regardless of their distance from Polaris... complete one circuit around Polaris in 24 hours!
And from this we can draw our third and fourth logical deductions... That ALL stars are there... rising and setting, circling Polaris... all night and all DAY!...
And... more importantly... ALL STARS ARE FIXED UPON THE DOME OF THE SKY, AND THE DOME OF THE SKY IS SPINNING... AT THE SPEED OF ONE ROTATION PER DAY... WITH POLARIS AS THE FIXED SPINDLE!
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This is a HUGE revalation!.. but it follows from logical deductions of easily observable phenomena!
The stars are fixed and constant, on the dome of the sky, and that dome is rotating! It's rotating at a fixed speed, of one rotation per 24 hours. And Polaris is the spindle or axis of that spin!
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BUT, they are also doing this day and night, which explains why at some times of year, you can see constellations at night, that are not visible at other times of year!
This is what you should EXPECT to happen... given the fact that at some times of year, the daylight lasts much longer... and at other times of year, the daylight hours are much shorter!
Since the time of nightfall and dawn are NOT fixed... and the length of day and night are NOT fixed... but vary wildly throughout the year...
It logically follows that some constellations... which DO rise and set every single day... will NOT be visible at certain times of year, because they both rise and set when the sky is bright and blue.
Yet those same constellations... which DO rise and set every single day... WILL be visible at other times of year... because their rising or setting happens to correspond with it being dark outside!
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SO!... to conclude STEP ONE: THE STARS...
You can make naked eye observations from your own yard or neighborhood that PROVE;
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STEP TWO: THE SUN
Never stare dirctly at the sun!.. and thankfully you won't need to for our Step Two, of Flat Earther's Guide.
We begin Step Two by simply observing that, like the stars, the Sun also rises in the East, and sets in the West.
But unlike the stars, the Sun is not fixed to the dome of the sky.
The path that the sun takes... the arc that it traces out in the sky from sunrise to sunset... changes over the course of the year.
Again, this is an observation you can make from your own yard... but you will have to pay attention over the span of an entire year.
Let's start on March 20th... the Spring Equinox. On that day, you will note, that the sun rises from a point DUE EAST!
You may argue, How do I know it's, due east? Maybe the compass app on my phone is rigged! Maybe the magnetic compass is also rigged by giant government magnets!
Okay, well remember Polaris! We know it never moves!
And if you draw a mental line directly down from Polaris to the horizon... the point where that mental line intersects the horizon is DUE NORTH.
If you accept that Polaris is Due North... you WILL note, that on the exact date of March 20th... the sun will rise from a point EXACTLY 90 DEGREES to the right of Polaris, on the horizon.
Even if the Earth is a flat disk, the horizon is still 360 degrees. So DUE... North, West, East, and South, will all be exactly 90 degrees apart from one another.
So... if you face the point on the horizon that intersects the vertical line extending up to where you know Polaris to be.... then turn exactly 90 degrees to your right... and you will be facing Due East.
And this point... is where the Sun will rise from... on March 20th!
Also, on this day of March 20th... the sun will SET... at a point DUE WEST!
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Now... given that you know where DUE... North, East, and West are at... it's not difficult to pinpoint DUE SOUTH.
If you draw mental lines upward from these four compass points on the horizon to where they intersect, directly over your head... that point... is the Zenith.
The Zenith is directly over your head... highest point in the sky... and it is neither North, South, East, or West of you.
The Zenith is an imaginary point but... it's IMPORTANT to note, here that Polaris Is NOT at the Zenith!
Polaris may be the fixed, unmoving point around which the entire dome of stars rotatates every twenty four hours... but it is Not the Zenith!
Polaris is lower down than the Zenith, and decidedly to the North!
This is why they will refer to Polaris as the, North Celestial Pole... or the northern axis of the rotating sky dome.
But if the sky dome has a pole, it can also have an EQUATOR. And that Celestial Equator... will be tilted up ABOVE the SOUTHERN horizon... by the same number of degrees that Polaris is tilted away from the Zenith!
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The Zenith is directly above your head... and the horizon is a great circle surrounding you at ground level.
But Polaris is offset from the Zenith... a bit closer to the Northern horizon. And thus, the Celstial Equator is also offset from the Southern horizon by the same number of degrees...
Though the Celestial Equator DOES INTERSECT with your horizon at two points!.. those being Due East, and Due West!
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SO!... on March 20th, you WILL observe that the Sun rises at a point DUE EAST... sets, at a point DUE WEST... and ALSO... EXACTLY follows the path of the Celestial Equator... above your Southern Horizon... as defined by the offset of Polaris from your Zenith!
If Polaris, for you, is 40 degrees away from the Zenith, Due North... then at NOON on March 20th... the Sun will be sitting EXACTLY 40 degrees above your Southern Horizon... Due South!
But don't take my word for it! You can observe this youself!
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But, if you observe the Sun in the days and weeks after March 20th... you'll note that it rises from a point further and further NorthEast... and sets further NorthWest every day!
With the arc that it takes through the sky moving higher toward your Zenith!
You will notice, between March 20th, and June 21st... that as the Sun continues to rise from and set at points further NorthEast and NorthWest... it's position at NOON, continues to climb higher and higher, from that Celestial Equator... toward the Zenith!
As this happens, the arc of the sun grows longer!
Every day is still 24 hours, of course, but the sun is spending more and more of those 24 hours ABOVE the horizon!... and fewer and fewer below it!
The days, in other words, are getting longer, and the nights are getting shorter... as the sun rides higher and higher in the sky at noon!.. until on June 21st... it is as damn near the actual Zenith as it ever gets!
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After June 21st, it all begins to reverse!... the Sun begins to rise and set at points further to the South... and it's arc begins to drift AWAY from the Zenith, back toward the Celestial Equator... until on September 23rd...
Everything's exactly like it was on March 20th!
BUT!... Buckle up, because!...
AFTER September 23rd... the sun begins to rise and set at points further and further SOUTH-East... and SOUTH-West... as the path it takes over the sky dips further and further LOWER than the Celestial Equator!
That arc that it traces over the sky, which grew LONGER in between MARCH 20th and June 21st... is now... between September 23rd and December 21st... growing SHORTER!
The days are growing shorter! The nights are growing longer!
And finally, on December 21st, the sun rises and sets at it's furthest points SouthEast and SouthWest... and hit's it's noon peak at the lowest point BELOW the Celestial Equator, that it will ever get.
After December 21st... The Sun's rise & set points, and it's arc over the sky, will gradually move back to where we started, on March 20th!
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You may be FURIOUS with me about now, thinking, why have you wasted all this time explaining the obvious to me about the sun's seasonal movements? And what the hell does it have to do with the Spherical Earth Model?
But all this is to show that the Sun... while it does rise in the East and set in the West like the stars of our rotating dome... is not fixed to that dome!
Polaris, recall... NEVER moves from season to season! And all the other stars remain FIXED in their rotation around Polaris every single day and night!
But the SUN... wavers dramatically over the course of a year... riding high in the summer near the Zenith... to extremely low in the southern sky in the winter.
And so you must ask yourself WHY?
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It DOES obey that 24 hour rule like the stars do!.. the total amount of daylight and darkness for any given day DO always add up to 24 hours.
And it DOES move in the same counter-clockwise direction as the rotating dome... rising in the East, and setting in the West.
And even in it's WANDERING from North to South... Zenith to sub-celestial equator... it DOES come back around in a year to repeat the cycle! It's not totally random! We have the exact dates for the four extremes of it's cycle!
So... what gives?
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WELL!.. if the Earth were a SPINNING SPHERE, then it would have an axis of spin, and a North and South pole of spin... and an equator... BUT...
A spinning, spherical Earth would also have ANGULAR MOMENTUM... as all spinning bodies do... and would be beholden to the Law of Conservation of Angular Momentum... which SAYS... that the AXIS will TEND to maintain it's ORIENTATION, with respect to the BACKGROUND STARS... no matter where the Earth goes!
So... if you spin up a gyro inside the dashboard of an airplane, before takeoff... the Law of Conservation of Angular Momentum will keep the axis of the spinning gyro fixed, with respect to the universe... no matter where you fly the plane!
This is how the plane can tell the pilot his pitch, yaw, and roll, no matter if he's climbing, decending, accelerating, or slowing... circling, or flying straight!
The axis of the gyro stays fixed... with respect to the universe... or... for our purposes... with respect to the background stars... because the gyro is spinning!
You have miniature gyros in your smart phone that do the exact same thing! That's how your phone knows you've turned it from portrait to landscape... and why you can have a functioning, bubble level app on your phone that works the same as a real one!
There are other experiments you could do, to prove to yourself that the Law of Conservation of Angular Momentum is a real, universal law... with household objects like tops, bicycle wheels, office chairs, and ice skates...
But the point here is that IF the Earth were a sphere, that was spinning...
AND IF, it's north pole was pointed at Polaris...
THEN... Polaris would appear to be fixed, and the stars would appear to rotate around polaris, as if they were fixed to the inside of a rotating sky dome!
And while THAT ALONE, would not be enough to PROVE the Earth was a spinning sphere...
Well, you COULD explain the strange seasonal motions of the SUN... IF... the spinning, spherical Earth's Axis just happened to be TILTED with respect to the axis of the sun!
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Don't tell me I've lost you, because we're just getting to the good part, and I need to fill in the final details here, so BEAR WITH ME!
A spherical Earth... spinning at the rate of one rotation per 24 hours, WOULD have to also be slowly orbiting the Sun... at the rate of one orbit per year... for all this to make sense!
BUT...
IF, a spherical Earth... spinning at the rate of one rotation per 24 hours WAS slowly orbiting the Sun... at the rate of one orbit per year... around the PLANE of the Sun's EQUATOR...
AND...
The Earth's axis of spin just HAPPENED to be TILTED at a wonky ANGLE to the plane of the Sun's equator....
THEN...
EARTH'S NORTH POLE WOULD MAINTAIN IT'S ORIENTATION POINTING AT POLARIS, NO MATTER WHERE IT WENT IN IT'S ORBIT AROUND THE SUN....
And this would MEAN that...
AT ONE POINT IN THE ORBIT, EARTH'S NORTH POLE WOULD BE POINTING MORE TOWARD THE SUN... AND AT THE OPPOSITE POINT IT WOULD BE POINTING MORE AWAY FROM THE SUN!
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To frame this another way... If Earth were a sphere, that was spinning... and it was orbiting the Sun, but tilted at an angle... we would EXPECT a star like Polaris to remain fixed year round... and we would also EXPECT to see the Sun drifting north and south with respect to the stars... but also rising and setting in the same direction as them!
DOES THIS MAKE SENSE?
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PART ONE CONCLUSIONS
With just eyeball based observations from home, of the stars and the Sun, we can conclude that the sky is a rotating dome of fixed stars with object permanence, whether the sky is light or dark... and it is rotating at the speed of one rotation per 24 hours.
And we can conclude that the Sun... while seeming to follow some of the rules that the rotating sky dome obeys... is not fixed and does wander North and South in it's own peculiar 12 month cycle.
The Flat Earth Model does not have a way to reconcile these strange motions of the Sun... other than to surmise that the Sun just... plays by different rules than the rotating dome of stars... for unknown reasons.
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However... There IS one version, of the Spherical Earth Model, that can unify all the observations of the stars and the Sun!
Specifically, if the Spherical Earth is spinning... AND orbiting the Sun on the plane of the Sun's equator... AND Earth's axis of spin happens to be tilted with respect to that plane...
Then the Law of Conservation of Angular Momentum would demand that the Earth's north pole would always point toward distant Polaris, no matter where the Earth was in it's orbit around the Sun...
And that would lead to a situation where the Earth's north pole would point more toward the Sun around one half of it's orbit... and more away from the sun around the other half!
And THAT would give rise to exactly the motions of the sun one DOES OBSERVE from their back yard, with respect to Polaris, and the Celestial Sphere!
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But this is not the END of the observations one can make from their back yard!.. and in PART TWO, we will look at the Moon's motions, and it's PHASES... to see how they further corroborate the Spherical Earth Model!
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But for now... consider the idea that; any model that can explain two seemingly unrelated phenomena... as being part of a single system... is superior to the model that cannot!
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Whether you're a religious person who doesn't trust the academic agenda, an astrologist fighting against the scientific patriarchy, or just an honest skeptic who seeks the truth for themselves... the Spherical Earth Model can seem a bit ridiculous!
If the only way to prove the Earth is a Sphere is to launch yourself into orbit, or fly to Australia, sail to Antarctica, purchase insanely expensive instruments, or... just take everybody's word for it... Well!.. then it's probably just bullshit!
But what if I were to tell you that it's possible to prove the Shperical Earth Model from home... without a single instrument other than your eyes?
Don't believe me?.. well, you don't have to! Because I'm gonna tell you how you can prove it to yourself!
NOTE: In the analysis to follow, we will assume you live in North America!
These instructions will also work for anybody in Europe or Northern Asia, but since most Flat Earthers live in The United States or Canada... we're going to presume you're in North America.
Unless you live in the heart of a huge city with tall buildings and tons of light pollution, you should be able to see the stars well enough for our purposes... if you live in a small town or suburb... provided it's a clear night, with no haze!
You need to find a convenient observation spot, where you can see the overhead sky, relatively unobstructed by trees or tall structures, and locate the constellation known as The Big Dipper.
The Big Dipper is a large, obvious constellation of fairly bright stars that is visible any night of the year in North America... again, provided the sky is clear, with no haze.
It's comprised of seven stars... three, forming a crooked pan handle, and four more in a trapezoid formation, forming the pan itself. It's not directly overhead... but it will be high in the sky, if you face north.
Once you've located the Big Dipper, look at the two stars forming the leading edge of that trapezoidal box of the pan. Form a mental line connecting those two stars on the leading edge of the pan, and follow that line up... to another bright star several degrees above them.
That star, is Polaris!
Again, Polaris should be easily visible, even in small towns and suburbs, on any clear night after dark... just above the leading edge of The Big Dipper's pan.
Take note of where you are standing... say... third square of the sidewalk from the driveway? If necessary, mark the spot with a rock... or pace it out from two nearby landmarks, like the maple tree and the grill.
Pinpoint this obeservation spot... and while standing at it... take note of where Polaris is in the sky.
For me, it's about ten degrees above the top of my neighbor's chimney. Maybe for you it's twenty degrees above a distant water tower. But take note of where Polaris is in the sky... how high you have to tilt your head... etc... from that observation spot.
Voice record it or write it down if you want.
The point is... every time you stand in that spot, after dark, on a clear night... you will see Polaris in the exact same spot in the sky.
It doesn't matter what time of night you look! It doesn't matter what time of year you look! From dark to dawn... Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall... this year... next year, and 100 years from now...
Polaris will be in that same point in the sky... as viewed from that same observation spot!
So... check this as many times as you like, over the course of a year! Prove it to yourself! Don't take my word for it!
But it's a fact that Polaris does not move!
And from this, you can make your first logical deduction... that Polaris is in that same spot... DURING THE DAY, TOO!
Go to your observation spot during the day... look to where polaris should be. You won't see it, of course... because the sky is too bright and blue. But... you can be certain that Polaris IS still there!
And if you doubt that, you can monitor this spot at sunset... and watch as it slowly becomes visible after nightfall. You can monitor at sunrise... and watch as it slowly becomes IN-visible as dawn breaks.
Polaris has object permanence, and remains there... even when it is obscured by sunlight.
Once you are satisfied that Polaris does not move, and also has object permanence... meaning it's there in the daytime as well as at night... it's time to take note again of that Big Dipper constellation.
After some observations, you should notice that The Big Dipper is also... visible year round... but that it's orientation in the sky, relative to Polaris will be different, depending on the time of night you view it!
If you check the orientation of The Big Dipper every three hours, for example, on the same night... you'll note that it's moving counter-clockwise around Polaris!
If you imagine that crooked pan handle of the constellation as being the hour hand on a clock... it slowly moves counter-clockwise over the course of a night.
You won't see that pan handle do a full circuit around Polaris in a single night... but it WILL move at a constant speed, of about 30 degrees of arc per hour!
In other words, it will move exactly twice as slow as an hour hand on a normal clock, and it will move counter-clockwise, instead of clockwise.
But from that, you'll be able to deduce that it takes The Big Dipper, 24 hours to do one complete circuit around Polaris!
But it's not just The Big Dipper!.. All the stars in that region of the sky... known as the circumpolar stars... rotate around Polaris at that same speed of one full circuit in 24 hours.
Thus, you can make your second logical deduction... that The Big Dipper, and all other circumpolar stars are also THERE... circling around Polaris... even in the daytime!
You can even calculate where the unseen pan handle should be pointing, at a given time of day, when the sky is bright and blue... and predict where it should be pointing tonight, an hour after sunset!
If you begin to observe stars outside the circumpolar region... ones further down toward the horizon... you will see that these ones appear to rise in the east, and set in the west... but that THEY TOO... are all moving around Polaris... at the same speed of one full circuit in 24 hours!
For stars far from Polaris, this DOES mean, that they must cover a lot more arc of sky in an hour, than the circumpolar stars.
This is similar to how, a record on a turn table will spin more slowly near the center, and the spindle... and spin much more quickly out at the edge.
All stars... regardless of their distance from Polaris... complete one circuit around Polaris in 24 hours!
And from this we can draw our third and fourth logical deductions... That ALL stars are there... rising and setting, circling Polaris... all night and all DAY!...
And... more importantly... ALL STARS ARE FIXED UPON THE DOME OF THE SKY, AND THE DOME OF THE SKY IS SPINNING... AT THE SPEED OF ONE ROTATION PER DAY... WITH POLARIS AS THE FIXED SPINDLE!
This is a HUGE revalation!.. but it follows from logical deductions of easily observable phenomena!
The stars are fixed and constant, on the dome of the sky, and that dome is rotating! It's rotating at a fixed speed, of one rotation per 24 hours. And Polaris is the spindle or axis of that spin!
BUT, they are also doing this day and night, which explains why at some times of year, you can see constellations at night, that are not visible at other times of year!
This is what you should EXPECT to happen... given the fact that at some times of year, the daylight lasts much longer... and at other times of year, the daylight hours are much shorter!
Since the time of nightfall and dawn are NOT fixed... and the length of day and night are NOT fixed... but vary wildly throughout the year...
It logically follows that some constellations... which DO rise and set every single day... will NOT be visible at certain times of year, because they both rise and set when the sky is bright and blue.
Yet those same constellations... which DO rise and set every single day... WILL be visible at other times of year... because their rising or setting happens to correspond with it being dark outside!
SO!... to conclude STEP ONE: THE STARS...
You can make naked eye observations from your own yard or neighborhood that PROVE;
- Polaris never moves and has object permanence, i.e. is there day and night.
- Circumpolar stars also have object permanence and rotate around Polaris, counterclockwise, at one revolution per 24 hours.
- All stars have object permanence and rotate around Polaris, counterclockwise, at one revolution per 24 hours.
- All stars are fixed to the dome of the sky, and the dome of the sky is rotating counterclockwise, at one revolution per 24 hours... with Polaris at it's axis!
Never stare dirctly at the sun!.. and thankfully you won't need to for our Step Two, of Flat Earther's Guide.
We begin Step Two by simply observing that, like the stars, the Sun also rises in the East, and sets in the West.
But unlike the stars, the Sun is not fixed to the dome of the sky.
The path that the sun takes... the arc that it traces out in the sky from sunrise to sunset... changes over the course of the year.
Again, this is an observation you can make from your own yard... but you will have to pay attention over the span of an entire year.
Let's start on March 20th... the Spring Equinox. On that day, you will note, that the sun rises from a point DUE EAST!
You may argue, How do I know it's, due east? Maybe the compass app on my phone is rigged! Maybe the magnetic compass is also rigged by giant government magnets!
Okay, well remember Polaris! We know it never moves!
And if you draw a mental line directly down from Polaris to the horizon... the point where that mental line intersects the horizon is DUE NORTH.
If you accept that Polaris is Due North... you WILL note, that on the exact date of March 20th... the sun will rise from a point EXACTLY 90 DEGREES to the right of Polaris, on the horizon.
Even if the Earth is a flat disk, the horizon is still 360 degrees. So DUE... North, West, East, and South, will all be exactly 90 degrees apart from one another.
So... if you face the point on the horizon that intersects the vertical line extending up to where you know Polaris to be.... then turn exactly 90 degrees to your right... and you will be facing Due East.
And this point... is where the Sun will rise from... on March 20th!
Also, on this day of March 20th... the sun will SET... at a point DUE WEST!
Now... given that you know where DUE... North, East, and West are at... it's not difficult to pinpoint DUE SOUTH.
If you draw mental lines upward from these four compass points on the horizon to where they intersect, directly over your head... that point... is the Zenith.
The Zenith is directly over your head... highest point in the sky... and it is neither North, South, East, or West of you.
The Zenith is an imaginary point but... it's IMPORTANT to note, here that Polaris Is NOT at the Zenith!
Polaris may be the fixed, unmoving point around which the entire dome of stars rotatates every twenty four hours... but it is Not the Zenith!
Polaris is lower down than the Zenith, and decidedly to the North!
This is why they will refer to Polaris as the, North Celestial Pole... or the northern axis of the rotating sky dome.
But if the sky dome has a pole, it can also have an EQUATOR. And that Celestial Equator... will be tilted up ABOVE the SOUTHERN horizon... by the same number of degrees that Polaris is tilted away from the Zenith!
The Zenith is directly above your head... and the horizon is a great circle surrounding you at ground level.
But Polaris is offset from the Zenith... a bit closer to the Northern horizon. And thus, the Celstial Equator is also offset from the Southern horizon by the same number of degrees...
Though the Celestial Equator DOES INTERSECT with your horizon at two points!.. those being Due East, and Due West!
SO!... on March 20th, you WILL observe that the Sun rises at a point DUE EAST... sets, at a point DUE WEST... and ALSO... EXACTLY follows the path of the Celestial Equator... above your Southern Horizon... as defined by the offset of Polaris from your Zenith!
If Polaris, for you, is 40 degrees away from the Zenith, Due North... then at NOON on March 20th... the Sun will be sitting EXACTLY 40 degrees above your Southern Horizon... Due South!
But don't take my word for it! You can observe this youself!
But, if you observe the Sun in the days and weeks after March 20th... you'll note that it rises from a point further and further NorthEast... and sets further NorthWest every day!
With the arc that it takes through the sky moving higher toward your Zenith!
You will notice, between March 20th, and June 21st... that as the Sun continues to rise from and set at points further NorthEast and NorthWest... it's position at NOON, continues to climb higher and higher, from that Celestial Equator... toward the Zenith!
As this happens, the arc of the sun grows longer!
Every day is still 24 hours, of course, but the sun is spending more and more of those 24 hours ABOVE the horizon!... and fewer and fewer below it!
The days, in other words, are getting longer, and the nights are getting shorter... as the sun rides higher and higher in the sky at noon!.. until on June 21st... it is as damn near the actual Zenith as it ever gets!
After June 21st, it all begins to reverse!... the Sun begins to rise and set at points further to the South... and it's arc begins to drift AWAY from the Zenith, back toward the Celestial Equator... until on September 23rd...
Everything's exactly like it was on March 20th!
BUT!... Buckle up, because!...
AFTER September 23rd... the sun begins to rise and set at points further and further SOUTH-East... and SOUTH-West... as the path it takes over the sky dips further and further LOWER than the Celestial Equator!
That arc that it traces over the sky, which grew LONGER in between MARCH 20th and June 21st... is now... between September 23rd and December 21st... growing SHORTER!
The days are growing shorter! The nights are growing longer!
And finally, on December 21st, the sun rises and sets at it's furthest points SouthEast and SouthWest... and hit's it's noon peak at the lowest point BELOW the Celestial Equator, that it will ever get.
After December 21st... The Sun's rise & set points, and it's arc over the sky, will gradually move back to where we started, on March 20th!
You may be FURIOUS with me about now, thinking, why have you wasted all this time explaining the obvious to me about the sun's seasonal movements? And what the hell does it have to do with the Spherical Earth Model?
But all this is to show that the Sun... while it does rise in the East and set in the West like the stars of our rotating dome... is not fixed to that dome!
Polaris, recall... NEVER moves from season to season! And all the other stars remain FIXED in their rotation around Polaris every single day and night!
But the SUN... wavers dramatically over the course of a year... riding high in the summer near the Zenith... to extremely low in the southern sky in the winter.
And so you must ask yourself WHY?
It DOES obey that 24 hour rule like the stars do!.. the total amount of daylight and darkness for any given day DO always add up to 24 hours.
And it DOES move in the same counter-clockwise direction as the rotating dome... rising in the East, and setting in the West.
And even in it's WANDERING from North to South... Zenith to sub-celestial equator... it DOES come back around in a year to repeat the cycle! It's not totally random! We have the exact dates for the four extremes of it's cycle!
So... what gives?
WELL!.. if the Earth were a SPINNING SPHERE, then it would have an axis of spin, and a North and South pole of spin... and an equator... BUT...
A spinning, spherical Earth would also have ANGULAR MOMENTUM... as all spinning bodies do... and would be beholden to the Law of Conservation of Angular Momentum... which SAYS... that the AXIS will TEND to maintain it's ORIENTATION, with respect to the BACKGROUND STARS... no matter where the Earth goes!
So... if you spin up a gyro inside the dashboard of an airplane, before takeoff... the Law of Conservation of Angular Momentum will keep the axis of the spinning gyro fixed, with respect to the universe... no matter where you fly the plane!
This is how the plane can tell the pilot his pitch, yaw, and roll, no matter if he's climbing, decending, accelerating, or slowing... circling, or flying straight!
The axis of the gyro stays fixed... with respect to the universe... or... for our purposes... with respect to the background stars... because the gyro is spinning!
You have miniature gyros in your smart phone that do the exact same thing! That's how your phone knows you've turned it from portrait to landscape... and why you can have a functioning, bubble level app on your phone that works the same as a real one!
There are other experiments you could do, to prove to yourself that the Law of Conservation of Angular Momentum is a real, universal law... with household objects like tops, bicycle wheels, office chairs, and ice skates...
But the point here is that IF the Earth were a sphere, that was spinning...
AND IF, it's north pole was pointed at Polaris...
THEN... Polaris would appear to be fixed, and the stars would appear to rotate around polaris, as if they were fixed to the inside of a rotating sky dome!
And while THAT ALONE, would not be enough to PROVE the Earth was a spinning sphere...
Well, you COULD explain the strange seasonal motions of the SUN... IF... the spinning, spherical Earth's Axis just happened to be TILTED with respect to the axis of the sun!
Don't tell me I've lost you, because we're just getting to the good part, and I need to fill in the final details here, so BEAR WITH ME!
A spherical Earth... spinning at the rate of one rotation per 24 hours, WOULD have to also be slowly orbiting the Sun... at the rate of one orbit per year... for all this to make sense!
BUT...
IF, a spherical Earth... spinning at the rate of one rotation per 24 hours WAS slowly orbiting the Sun... at the rate of one orbit per year... around the PLANE of the Sun's EQUATOR...
AND...
The Earth's axis of spin just HAPPENED to be TILTED at a wonky ANGLE to the plane of the Sun's equator....
THEN...
EARTH'S NORTH POLE WOULD MAINTAIN IT'S ORIENTATION POINTING AT POLARIS, NO MATTER WHERE IT WENT IN IT'S ORBIT AROUND THE SUN....
And this would MEAN that...
AT ONE POINT IN THE ORBIT, EARTH'S NORTH POLE WOULD BE POINTING MORE TOWARD THE SUN... AND AT THE OPPOSITE POINT IT WOULD BE POINTING MORE AWAY FROM THE SUN!
To frame this another way... If Earth were a sphere, that was spinning... and it was orbiting the Sun, but tilted at an angle... we would EXPECT a star like Polaris to remain fixed year round... and we would also EXPECT to see the Sun drifting north and south with respect to the stars... but also rising and setting in the same direction as them!
DOES THIS MAKE SENSE?
With just eyeball based observations from home, of the stars and the Sun, we can conclude that the sky is a rotating dome of fixed stars with object permanence, whether the sky is light or dark... and it is rotating at the speed of one rotation per 24 hours.
And we can conclude that the Sun... while seeming to follow some of the rules that the rotating sky dome obeys... is not fixed and does wander North and South in it's own peculiar 12 month cycle.
The Flat Earth Model does not have a way to reconcile these strange motions of the Sun... other than to surmise that the Sun just... plays by different rules than the rotating dome of stars... for unknown reasons.
However... There IS one version, of the Spherical Earth Model, that can unify all the observations of the stars and the Sun!
Specifically, if the Spherical Earth is spinning... AND orbiting the Sun on the plane of the Sun's equator... AND Earth's axis of spin happens to be tilted with respect to that plane...
Then the Law of Conservation of Angular Momentum would demand that the Earth's north pole would always point toward distant Polaris, no matter where the Earth was in it's orbit around the Sun...
And that would lead to a situation where the Earth's north pole would point more toward the Sun around one half of it's orbit... and more away from the sun around the other half!
And THAT would give rise to exactly the motions of the sun one DOES OBSERVE from their back yard, with respect to Polaris, and the Celestial Sphere!
But this is not the END of the observations one can make from their back yard!.. and in PART TWO, we will look at the Moon's motions, and it's PHASES... to see how they further corroborate the Spherical Earth Model!
But for now... consider the idea that; any model that can explain two seemingly unrelated phenomena... as being part of a single system... is superior to the model that cannot!
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