125. Sunbeams prove that the Sun is relatively close, just above the clouds

"Another proof the Sun is not millions of miles away is found by tracing the angle of sun-rays back to their source above the clouds. There are thousands of pictures showing how sunlight comes down through cloud-cover at a variance of converging angles. The area of convergence is of course the Sun, and is clearly NOT millions of miles away, but rather relatively close to Earth just above the clouds."


Dubay does not understand what Cepuscular rays are

What Dubay is describing is a visual effect due to perspective

Dubay’s claim comes from mistakenly interpreting what is being seen as the Sun’s rays shining vertically straight down directly through the holes in the clouds.  They are not.  You only see sunbeams when the sun is relatively low in the sky. The sunbeams are sunlight that is reflecting off particles in the atmosphere and is angled towards you.  Lower down the sunbeam corresponds to closer to you.

The beams are all parallel because the sun is so far away.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crepuscular_rays
Because of perspective the nearer parts of the sunbeam (i.e. lower down) appear further apart than the more distant parts of the sunbeam (i.e. higher up).  I.e. This makes the sunbeams look like they converge at a point.

You can see the same effect of perspective by looking at parallel train tracks.  Near you the tracks seem wider apart than they do in the distance.

Source: https://pixabay.com/en/gleise-old-railroad-tracks-seemed-1555348/
However if you look straight down above the clouds you can see that the sunbeams are in fact parallel.

See http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/11/02/crepuscular-rays-are-parallel/#.Won0AXZl_IU




Lastly, here is an image where you can see the effect on a scale which makes it obvious what you are seeing.

Source: https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/crepuscular-rays
If we were to use the same flat Earth logic on this image the Sun would be placed at a height of less than 100 feet!


< Prev    121-130   Next >

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

127. Straight reflections of sunlight and moonlight are impossible on a spherical Earth

Image
"The fact that the Sun and Moon’s reflections on water always form a straight line path from the horizon to the observer proves the Earth is not a ball. If Earth’s surface was curved it would be impossible for the reflected light to curve over the ball from horizon to observer." This is a flawed argument because Dubay does not understand how reflections operate Although he doesn't describe it very well, I presume that Dubay is referring to the angle of reflection from a curved surface.  I.e. the curve of the Earth would mean that the angle of reflection off the surface would result in nearly all the light  not reaching the observer's eyes. The fact that, if this was how reflections worked, that the same would be true on a flat Earth seems to have escaped Dubay's notice. This type of reflection is called specular reflection, and takes place with mirror like surfaces.  Generally the surface of the water is not perfectly flat so the reflection of the light...
Read more

Debunking Eric Dubay's 200 proofs the earth is not a spinning ball

Image
Conspiracy Baloney aims to provide resources to counter to the influence of the crazy anti-science conspiracy theories that are out there. This blog is specifically to debunk Eric Dubay's " 200 proofs the earth is not a spinning ball", that I have found flat earthers often cite. There are quite a few resources out there that comprehensively debunk this book, but I think that one more voice can only help.  I have tried to keep the rebuttals as non technical as possible. Eric Dubay’s proofs are laughably simplistic and demonstrate an almost complete lack of understanding of maths and anything scientific or technical. A list of "proofs" that show Dubay is an idiot He also likes to give historical quotes as proofs.  Typical are quotes from the 1800’s but he even has one from before 1600!.  Not only are these opinions not proof of anything, but the fact that he can’t provide quotes from more up to date sources destroys their credibility. Worse, ...
Read more

If Earth was a sphere the visible stars would be different

Image
The visible stars are a big problem for flat Earthers because what we observe is 100% consistent with a spherical Earth and completely impossible on a flat Earth. Their solution?  Simply to lie about what is observed.  These lies include denials of observations that are impossible on a flat Earth and pretending that observed stars would be impossible on spherical Earth. For the latter, it could be that Dubay simply can't do simple trigonometry but I think that he is once again deliberately lying. The strange thing about this is that everyone is capable of putting these claims to the test simply by looking up at the night sky.  The fact that flat Earth believers refuse to put these "proofs" to the test tells you that they are not really interested in truth, they are only interested in feeling good about their beliefs and will simply unquestioningly accept as fact anything that backs up these beliefs. Ignorance truly is bliss. 99...
Read more