Yesterday, (July 27), those of you who weren’t busy out and about, and had time to gaze up at our glorious skies, may have noticed the Blood Moon.
In the UK, where weather was decent, the Moon could be seen to turn red, fully eclipsed by Earth. It rose at around 21:00 and lasted until about 22:15 BST.
This stunning total eclipse was visible from other parts of the world too, including Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Australia, most of Asia, and South America.
However, our good old stupid friends – the flat Earth theorists – think we’re just ‘confused’ by what we saw, and we’ve had the wool pulled over our eyes yet again…
Phenomena such as Blood Moons, should be an example of how the world can come together to gaze in awe of a breathtaking display of astronomy, so it’s a shame some feel the need to ruin it with conspiracy theories.
The online flat-Earth community have gleefully been rubbing their hands together, getting their ammunition ready for when we all start to post and talk about the Blood Moon.
They live in the hope events such as last night’s could support their tenuous theories, poking holes in all the heliocentric stuff, showing the Earth is ‘flat’ once and for all.
However, I’d just like to add at this stage, scientists can only predict solar eclipses thanks to the heliocentric model – the idea the Earth and other planets revolve around the Sun, and the orbital mechanics of our Solar System.
So, I’d like to add, what could there be to argue with?
Some people on Twitter think NASA are just a ploy, and the governments of the world are lying to us about the Earth being round.
When we were encouraged to wear sunglasses for the solar eclipse, the flat Earth believers said it was so we couldn’t see the truth of what was ‘really’ going on.
Exhibit A:
And there’s plenty more where that came from, unfortunately!
I’m sorry, but in reality, it’s because looking at the Sun can cause permanent damage to your sight. Staring directly at the sun, especially for long periods of time, will literally burn a dot into your retinas.
According to the BBC, skywatchers around the world witnessed the longest Blood Moon eclipse of the 21st Century.
As it rose, during this total eclipse, Earth’s natural satellite turned a striking shade of red or ruddy brown, and the ‘totality’ period, where light from the Moon was totally obscured, lasted for one hour, 43 minutes.
Professor Tim O’Brien, an astrophysicist at University of Manchester explained:
This is actually almost as long as a lunar eclipse could be.
It seems most of the people on Twitter were stumped for an explanation as to how the Blood Moon could be explained if the Earth was flat:
Now, in the name of journalism and trying to balance out this ‘argument’, I’ve been trying to grasp the explanations as to why the Blood Moon could be considered remotely close to proving the Earth is flat.
Apart from being directed to an unreliable Wiki page, I’m struggling for the scientific evidence… Don’t @ me, I haven’t got the patience.
However I do like the following theory they have on the page:
A Lunar Eclipse occurs about twice a year when a satellite of the sun passes between the sun and moon.
A satellite, brilliant!
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